Sometimes You Can't Get Out Of The Game
by fbobs
Summary: What happens after Mr. Smith has a very bad day? This is one answer to the final scene with Cole Maddox in Mr. Smith's office. The characters all belong to the TV program Castle, Mr. Marlow, and company. I just like to play with them.
1. Chapter 1 Love and Bullets

**AN: This is my first Castle story. I wanted to take on the big gorilla in the room and the consequences of seeing Cole Maddox in Mr. Smith's office. It looked to me like Mr. Smith was going to have a very bad day. So far it's written through chapter 16 of 18. I'll publish one a week unless it is getting too close to the season premiere. I want this all done before that airs. **

******Many thanks to Patricia Louise and Gwynne for their help. **

**I own nothing, Marlow and company own it all. I just wanted to take the summer hiatus and play with some of their totally amazing characters. I'm a huge fan of the show; Stana Katic's portrayal of Detective Beckett in particular. **

**There Is No "I" In Team.**

**Prolog:**

After their intense emotional reunion at Castle's front door, they'd moved naturally to the bedroom. What followed was an initial, almost mindless, feral animal encounter, dominated by the release of years of unsatisfied tension. When the inevitable intermission happened, and they had recovered enough to get their minds around where they were and what had happened, at least to some extent, Beckett felt Castle move and take a breath that she was sure preceded a question. She'd answered his unspoken question saying, "Rick, this is not a one night stand. In my mind, if you can forgive me for how awful I've been, this is the beginning of forever together. I love you. I have for two years now. I almost died last night. I had the crap beat out of me. I hung on the edge of a building, and all I could think of was you might never know. I could have forever lost the chance to tell what I really felt, so I hung on. I survived to tell you I love you: now, forever, till death do us part, come hell, high water, come what may. We can get angry with each other, upset with each other, but it's still us; we will get through it and find joy together. You and me. Rick and Kate. I love the sound of that. You, my wonderful man, are my one-and-done. I'm going no place. No woman should reach for you with anything she's not willing to lose. You are _mine_."

She felt Rick sigh, shudder, take a breath, pull her in close and then heard him say what she was hoping for, "Oh God, Kate, you have just made my life. I love you. I'm not going anywhere either. I am in the same place about you. I know we will have disagreements, but from now on, the disagreements have nothing to do with us being together; that's settled sweetheart. You are _it_ for me too."

The second round was about them, about their commitment. It left them glowing more than spent, fulfilled more than used up. It was, Beckett thought, _the seal on our deal, the difference between love and lust, we are joined for life. I need to tell him I resigned. Now. Before anything gets in the way. I want that to come from me._ "Rick," she said, "I have more to tell you. You need to wake up enough to hear it." Her completely dark adapted vision saw his eyes open; apparently something in her tone got his attention.

"You have my attention Kate, but whatever it is, it's going to be okay," he'd said.

With some trepidation she forged ahead, "I made a mistake of judgment going after the killer with no backup. Esposito came with me; he's fine, but he was nearly killed, too. Ryan was right to try to stop us. He was also right when he went against Javi and my wishes and told Gates.

"Ryan saved our lives. But Gates was livid. I haven't seen her so angry before. She put Javi and me on indefinite administrative leave. I put my gun on her desk, stood there; holding my badge - the badge that I'd worked so hard for, and suddenly none of it mattered. I was done; all I wanted was you. Not the job, not to catch my mom's killer, I just wanted to walk over the rubble of the wall that had just that moment collapsed and be with you. I resigned." She'd been watching Castle's face while she unloaded that before it could become another festering secret.

His gaze was unwavering. His face moved with emotion as she talked. In the end, with the announcement of her resignation, he showed only concern for her, which was reflected when he said, "You resigned." It was a statement, not a question. He continued, "Are you sure Kate? The job has been so much of what you are, so much of how you see yourself; can you really do this?"

"Yes, I can. I'm out of it. Gone from the investigation. I just want to begin our life together, exclusive, sharing you only with Alexis, your mom, and your passion for writing. I'm more than the job now Rick; I want to be more than the job," she replied.

He pulled her close and said, "Well, all right then, this is the first day of the rest of our lives ... together. I so love the together part Kate." and she knew it really was all right.

At peace for the first time in more than a decade, lying in Castle's arms, Kate felt the tension drain from her body and mind and drifted into dreamless sleep.

**Chapter 1, There is no such thing as safe.**

Kate's eyes jerked wide open at the unmistakable sound of a rifle shot. Window glass shattered violently into the drapes; a bullet impacted the floor and opposite wall with a sharp thump. An instant adrenaline release fueled her into pure survival mode. In a split second she grabbed Rick, rolled them off the bed on the far side from the windows as the second shot shattered what was left of the glass into the heavy drapes. When they hit the floor, his impact on her battered body hurt so much she almost screamed, but it didn't slow her down. As Rick, wide-eyed, struggled to comprehend their situation, she shouted, "Over here, against this wall, the bullets can't get us there!" With almost superhuman strength, she dragged him into a sheltered corner of the room. She instinctively shoved him against the wall and threw herself on top of him as the incoming fire shifted from single shots to full automatic. Her head stayed up wide eyes, registered the change in fire mode, her eyes saw the bed and the far wall being chewed into uselessness by incoming bullets.

Rick struggled to move; she hoarsely growled into his ear, "Don't move if you want to live. Those bullets are hitting two feet to my right and skipping into the wall. It has to stop soon. We're okay if you don't move." She felt the change when he stopped trying to escape and just hung on. She noticed the heavy drapes contained most of the glass. If they were careful when the firing stopped, they could move, but they couldn't turn on a light and let the assailants know they had survived.

Then it was quiet, silent, dust and debris drifted in the air. The drapes moved from a soft breeze, light from outside streamed in through the holes torn in them by bullets and broken glass. She figured at least a minute wait to be sure they were done and started mentally counting. She got to 10, and suddenly the attack started up again. The angle had changed. The bullets impacted farther away from them. Whatever they were using it had a big magazine. She couldn't count the shots, but there were a lot of them. Then it stopped again.

She said, "Stay still, they may just be reloading or hoping we'll think they are done." She counted slowly to a hundred and twenty. When she heard nothing, she thought they were done. "Rick, she said louder than she intended, "where is your phone?"

To his credit, he seemed to adjust to what had just happened because he lifted his head, looked around, and said, "In those pants, over there, that look to be full of holes. They were new, new phone too. I bet its toast. I'm a phone's worst enemy."

In the middle of this nightmare, his coping mechanism and the intense physical effort to get him off the bed and over against the wall helped her overcome some of the adrenaline and think. Out loud she said, "I have no idea where mine is. My clothes might be in the office. I think they made it into the apartment at least." That last phrase was added for his benefit. The cop in her quickly surveyed their situation, and then sirens sounded. Rick started to speak, but she gently put a finger on his lips, listened, and then said, "I think those sirens are headed this way. There are too many of them to be random, and they are getting louder. I heard the sonic cracks from the bullets; the weapons were not silenced. That will have effectively called nine-one-one for us, but I want to make sure they know the fight's over before they get here."

"I hear them too," he said.

She replied, "Wait another thirty seconds to be sure they are gone, and we'll move to the closet for clothes, but no lights. Be careful, there could be glass everywhere. The drapes contained most of it, but they have some pretty big holes in them so it could be all over the floor." Rick nodded but didn't say anything.

"Okay, we move." As one, they carefully stood up in place. Kate could see glass reflecting on the floor in the now much brighter bedroom.

She took him by the hand, stepped carefully, and made it to his closet uninjured. He handed her one of his T-shirts and a pair of drawstring sweat pants, then a pair of flip-flops that would allow her to get over the glass if she walked carefully. Both of them wanted to be someplace else, like right freaking now.

Then they heard both of their cell phones and the house phone going off almost simultaneously.

Rick made it to his phone, took a look and said, "It's Gates," and answered it on the fourth ring, "Castle-"

###

That was as far as he got when he heard a very agitated Gates saying, "Mr. Castle, are you all right? We have heard from nine-one-one dispatch that your apartment was fired upon. Your neighbors called in automatic weapons fire and the sounds of breaking glass."

"Yes, Kate and I are shaken up, but neither of us was hit by bullets or flying glass."

"Detective Beckett is there?"

"Former Detective Beckett is here."

"Whatever. Ryan is at Police Commissioner Getz's apartment right now. Getz was tortured and killed last evening shortly after Beckett was beaten."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"I just got a package delivered by courier; the delivery was apparently set off by his being murdered. It contains a rather amazing bunch of files and a note to tell you Mr. Smith is dead. Just as I was getting ready to call, I got word that your apartment had been attacked with deadly force. There is more," she said, her voice growing in intensity," but who the hell is someone you know as Mr. Smith to you?" she practically raged at him over the phone.

"I'll tell you, but not over the phone, and not without Beckett being part of the conversation."

"Mr. Castle, answer me right now, who is this guy to you?"

"No. Not over the phone."

"Do you want me to place you under arrest for obstruction?"

"Don't even think about it. I can afford more lawyers than you can shake a stick at. I'm not refusing to tell you, just _not_ over the phone. So get over here, or go to bed, I don't much care which you do." And he broke the connection.

He looked up to find Kate standing in the door looking at him, her face full of questions. The first one being, "Was that Gates?"

"Yup. I didn't like her attitude. She's not happy with me."

"I figured out you aren't happy with her either."

"No, she threatened to arrest me for obstruction when I wouldn't tell her who Mr. Smith was."

"Why did she want to know that?"

"It turns out he was Commissioner Getz, he was tortured and murdered last evening."

"Murdered?"

He saw the realization taking hold of her and moved quickly in her direction. Uncharacteristic of the Detective Beckett he had known, but fully in character for the new Kate of the last few hours, she let him approach and took one of his hands in hers. Then the other. Standing there, face to face, holding hands, he understood for the first time, really understood, clear to the middle of his soul, what they were to each other.

He said, "Tortured and murdered. He apparently had a failsafe in place; the files he was holding were couriered to Gates. I have no idea how he managed to do that in the middle of the night, but apparently he did. The courier had to have been triggered by someone who somehow learned in the middle of the night that something happened to him."

"Oh God! I've put us, you, your family, in terrible danger; this is just their first attempt. When they know it failed they will come after me again." She paused, he could see from her expression, the cute wrinkle over her nose between her eyes, and then she looked up eyes wide open and asked, "How would they even know I was here? Oh crap, this was them coming after you! Not me. We didn't even know we were 'us' until a few hours ago. They definitely could not have known I'd be here; they were after you."

Rick felt the first real fear of his life right then. Suddenly he felt almost blinding recognition of what she had been living with, what her scar reminded her of, every day for the last year. He knew how it felt to wake up every day and wonder why you hadn't been killed yet. She must have seen it in his face because she moved much closer, looked directly into his eyes and said, "Rick ... Rick! Look at me. Look at my eyes. Now."

He felt rather than saw her intensity, finally managed to focus on her eyes. When she saw she had his attention she said, "We will get through this. It's in the open now. Those bastards aren't going to steal the rest of my life like they stole the last thirteen years. It's my life, our lives. We do this together, we get the bastards."

He was relieved, frightened by her intensity, but reassured and hopelessly attracted to her, completely gone in love with her, the feeling made his hands shake, but he managed to get out, "We will, even if I have to hire a damn army of my own to take them out. We will crush them."

Kate threw her arms around his neck and pressed close against him. His arms responded on their own and folded around her waist to complete the hug. She flinched and cried out with pain, and he released her immediately. She reassured him saying, "Not you, I'm just really sore from the beating I got before I fell off the roof and was hanging from the ledge.

Rick said, "You're hurt?" eased her away and pulled up the T-shirt. Where they stood there was a stream of light and he could see a lot of bruising, so much that it made him wonder how she'd been able to tolerate what they'd done in bed.

She said, "I am really stiff and sore about everyplace, but nothing's broken, and even if it were, I'd still have wanted last night." She eased back into the hug; he very gently wrapped his arms back around her.

She hung on to him for a few moments, pulled back just enough for a quick kiss and said, "Us is so much better than just me."

"It certainly is," he replied, "but we need to get us more dressed. I invited Gates to come over. I expect her to take me up on my invitation, and that," he said referring to the loud knocking on the door, "is probably the nine-one-one response. I'll get the door."

Rick hurried when he saw the door vibrate with each knock. Concerned about a battering ram, he shouted between knocks, "I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm Rick Castle, the owner, everybody in here is uninjured." He got to the door, looked through the peephole to see a uniform, and shouted through the door, "I'm going to open the door now. It has lots of locks, hang on a second."

###

Kate watched Rick head for the front door. She expected the responding officers to be nervous, so she stood in the open, relaxed, hands in plain sight, and waited for Rick to let them in. She saw him confirm them through the peephole, then open the door. Kate recognized the first patrolman through the door, it was mutual, and he said, "Detective Beckett? ... Everything all right?"

She replied, "Officer Benton. Nobody here was hurt. The bedroom window is all shot out, the room was shot to pieces, but we were not hit." She felt self-conscious because she had just admitted she was in bed with Castle when it happened, but _that wasn't going to be a secret for long at all anyway, so what the heck? Right? Yeah, right, _she thought.

"Officer Benton, this is Rick Castle," she said to ease his apparent growing embarrassment.

She watched as the two men sized each other up. Rick, gentleman that he was, offered his hand, Benton took it.

Officer Benton asked, "What happened here?"

Rick looked at her, she answered, "We were asleep when the bedroom window exploded in a shower of glass. We reacted defensively; rolled out of bed to the floor and managed to get out of the line if fire by the time the second shot came through the window. Then automatic fire started, and we just stayed there covering as best we could to avoid being hit by fragments as the gunfire chewed the window and the bed where we had been sleeping to pieces."

"You were machine-gunned through the bedroom window, on the fourth floor?"

"Yes, if I'm right about the angle of the incoming rounds, it came from the adjacent rooftop or an apartment higher than this floor in the next building."

"Thanks Detective, yes, I'll call it in right now." Turning away, he keyed his shoulder mike and said, "Dispatch, Officer Benton on scene. Machine gun fired through a bedroom window possibly from the roof or near the roof of the adjacent building. Nobody injured. Residence owned by a Richard Castle. Detective Beckett was onsite when the shooting took place."

"Is Beckett on duty?"

"No, she is one of the victims in this case."

"Standby one."

Waiting for Dispatch to get back to him Benton looked at Beckett and said, "Sorry, I had to tell them you were here. Is there anybody else on the premises?"

"No, just us," Rick said.

Beckett asked, "Officer Benton, would you have someone clear the adjacent roof top? We don't want to go back in that room to get dressed until we know no more rounds are going to be incoming."

Nodding he keyed his mike again, saying, "Dispatch, please have officers clear the adjacent rooftop. Look for but don't touch anything that looks like it remains behind from a weapon that can deliver automatic fire."

Just then Officer Benton jumped as there was a knock on the open door behind him. Beckett said, "That looks like a courier to me, not a threat, Officer Benton."

The courier looked at her with relief and asked, "Is there a Richard Castle here?"

Rick, looking happy to be back involved said, "I'm Rick Castle."

"I have an Urgent Delivery package for you, sir. I need you to sign this receipt please?" the courier said as he held up a thick padded envelope to Rick. Rick handed it to Kate, freeing his hands to sign the machine the courier held out to him. The courier said with evident relief to have his mission over, "Thanks, I'm out of here."

Officer Benton moved to intercept him, and Beckett said, "Let him go, Officer, he's just the messenger, literally." Then she added, "Can you give Mr. Castle and me a moment alone please?"

Benton looked embarrassed and said, "Uh, sure, yes, Detective, I'll be right out in the hall."

When he was out of ear shot Kate said, "Rick, do you have a hidden safe we can put this in? It's from a Mr. Smith, and I don't want anything to happen to it before we have time to make a dozen copies and hide them all over the planet."

Rick immediately stepped toward her saying, "Yes, you are right, got it." He took the package and disappeared into his office.

###

Just then, Beckett's phone rang. Caller ID said it was Ryan. He said "Beckett?"

"Kevin, where are you?"

"Beckett, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm at Castle's. Bedroom got shot to pieces, but we're not injured. You okay?"

"You're at Castle's?"

"Yes. We'll get into that later. You're okay." A statement this time.

"I'm fine. I'm still in commissioner Getz home office, but the patrol officers here know I work with you and told me your apartment was shot up, broken into, and generally trashed. The bed was shot to pieces apparently before they realized you weren't in it."

"That means they didn't know I was here. Castle is definitely a target too! Can you get word to whoever is in charge of the scene to call me?" she asked.

"It's Karpowski," he said, "You have her number?"

"Yes, I do. I'll call her. And Kevin?"

"Yes."

"You did the right thing yesterday. You were right, I was wrong. I owe you big time."

"Thanks Beckett. Thanks a lot. That helps a lot too. I wish Javi saw it that way."

"He will. Give him time. Watch your six. These guys might come after you too."

"Okay, got to go."

When the call ended, Kate checked her contact list, found Karpowski and touched the name.

Karpowski answered, "Beckett, you okay? Your bed was literally shot to pieces. I didn't see any blood so I was hoping. I'm so glad you weren't in it. Where are you?"

Kate stifled embarrassment, figured everybody would know by the end of the day, maybe by noon, and said, "I was at Castle's. His bed was shot to pieces, too, but we got out of it in time. We're all okay."

There was a pause, and then Karpowski said, "Uh ... got it. I'll make sure this gets locked down before I leave. Whoever did this wasn't taking any chances – looks like they picked your dimple key locks silently enough that they thought you wouldn't hear them. It takes a real pro to pick those locks. Apparently they couldn't see if there was anybody in the bed, so they just shot it up first, looked later. Nobody heard any shots, though I'd guess there were all of 60 holes in the bed, so it was probably a pair of silenced full autos of some sort shooting subsonic ammo. It was the noise of them trashing the apartment that got the neighbors attention."

Just then Officer Benton came back in to announce, "Captain Gates just arrived downstairs. The officers down there said to, 'dig a hole and crawl in, she's on the warpath'."

Kate smile at him and said, "She's always on the warpath. Compared to being down range from a machine gun, she's a piece of cake."

Benton grinned and said, "Well, when you put it that way ..."

Kate turned her attention back to the phone and said, "Thanks for the heads up, got to go," and broke the connection. She had a less than a minute to get herself ready to confront her ex-boss.

Benton's face reappeared in the door saying "I hear the elevator."

He turned as they both heard elevator doors in the hall way. Kate stepped to where she could see out the door and sure enough, there came Iron Gates looking more like bristling pillbox Gates.

Gates didn't bother to knock; she almost ran into Castle's apartment and stopped so abruptly her balance teetered. She didn't shout, but you could almost see the heat radiate from her words as she said, "Detective Beckett, what the hell is going on? Just in case you didn't know it, your apartment was broken into and shot to pieces as well, apparently they didn't know they had the wrong bed."

Kate noted there was a bit of sarcasm in the last phrase but didn't let it push any of her buttons. She needed to stay on mission if she was going to survive.

Gates waved a piece of paper with handwriting on it and demanded, "Why does this note," waving a piece of paper with handwriting on it "say he can't keep you safe anymore, that the plan isn't working, and that I'm on the hit list too? I just had to call my family and tell them I had a protective detail coming to watch over them and and to lock the doors and windows and not let anybody in till they call me to confirm they are who they say they are. Not to mention they are scared out of their minds."

Kate watched all this with surprising detachment. _Welcome to club fear, Captain, sir, she thought, come on in. Get ready, you have no idea what's coming your way. This is going to get a hell of a lot less IAD black and white. How you going to deal with that?_ But all she said was, "Let me know when you are ready to listen."

Gates sputtered, "Don't you talk to me like that Detective, I'll-"

"What?" Kate cut her off with emphasis, then continued with an edgy intensity Gates had never heard from her before, "You'll do what? _You_ won't do shit. You're really great at discipline problems. You toe the line, read the regulations and worry about what the boys down town will think of _you_. You're great at pitching things so _you_ look good, but you absolutely suck at investigation, at understanding your people and motivating them. Right now you better hope that somebody in the unit is better at it than you are, or _you_ are going to die. And when that happens, you will just look dead to the people downtown. Six second later they will look at each other and argue and exchange favors with each other in support of their favorite to replace you with. You stopped investigating this case almost a year ago because you were worried about how the budget would make you look. Well, how do you think getting all shot up will make you look?"

Kate almost felt sorry for Iron Gates. She turned purple, sucked in a breath and was just about to vent when Kate said, "And don't bother to threaten me, Captain. I resigned; I have a witness, Esposito. So just calm down, rake the scattered leaves of your self-respect up into a pile, put them back in the basket, and we can have a dialog about how to save your life _just_ in case that's more important to you than how you _look _to the big wigs downtown."

Kate watched Gate struggle to get her emotions under control; she needed to turn on her professional persona, and she found it hard. Kate said more quietly, "I'll give you a moment; I'm going to make coffee. And just so you can get over it all at once, I'm calling Special Agent Jordan Shaw because I suspect there is a mountain of corruption behind this, and a lot of it is in the NYPD." She saw Gates winding up again and added, "I don't like you much, but I trust you. You may not be much of a Detective, but you are honest, and given a chance, I can work with that. But I don't trust the people you will have to go to to work this case, so I'm calling Shaw. I trust her too. And she owes me a big one." With that she turned and walked away leaving Gates speechless.

Kate grabbed the bag of Columbian beans off the shelf because they were the easiest to reach, measured them into the grinder, turned it on, put a filter in the Big BUNN coffee maker that was plumbed into the water system through a filter, and flipped it to on. She picked it because it was fast and she needed caffeine badly in her sleep deprived state. _Hell of a day didn't begin to describe it_ she thought.


	2. Chapter 2 The Time Line

**AN: Many thanks to Patricia Louise and Gwynne for their patient mentoring. Any mistakes that remain are my responsibility. **

**Again, I own nothing. I remain if awe of the characters Marlow and company have created. I like to take them out and play with them now and then. **

**Chapter 2, The Time Line**

A few seconds after she flipped the switch, coffee ran into the carafe, in two minutes it would be done. As she waited for Gates to maybe show up in the kitchen she checked her contact list, found Shaw's cell phone number, and touched it.

A sleepy sounding voice she recognized as Shaw's answered, "Agent Shaw."

"Jordan, this is Kate Beckett."

"Detective Beckett?"

"Not any more, I resigned yesterday."

"Huh? Oh boy, give me a second to go to another room... "

Kate heard a door shut quietly and Shaw come back on line.

"You resigned?"

"Yes, it's relevant, but not why I called at this ungodly hour. I desperately need your help to stay alive. In fact, several of us do, including Castle, his family and my Dad."

"How is this a Federal matter?"

"Because I can prove the NYPD is corrupt and complicit in the attempt on my life tonight, the attempt on Castle's life tonight, the threat to Captain Gates life, and the murder of FBI Agent Bob Arman 14 years ago."

"Is this related to why you got shot last year?"

"Yes, I had the son-of-a-bitch that shot me, but I couldn't take him into custody. He beat the crap out of me: threw me off a roof, saw me hanging from a ledge, smiled at me, walked away and left me to fall to my death. Detective Ryan grabbed my arm and saved my life just as I was about to lose my grip."

"When was that?"

"Late yesterday afternoon."

"There is more, right?"

"A police commissioner was murdered. He had files that he used to force the conspiracy leader to leave me alone. As damn near his last act, he sent those files to Captain Gates."

"How do you know what's in the files?"

"Castle knew about them and kept them a secret from me because he knew I wasn't ready to take them on. In any event, my bed in my apartment was shot to pieces earlier tonight. The bed Castle and I were sharing in his apartment was decimated by a machine gun from the adjacent roof top. We got out of it, barely in time."

"I knew it was just a matter of time before you two were sleeping with each other. If you had any sense-"

"Jordan! Focus. Will you help me?"

"Oh yes, definitely, I may be working on the same case. Where are you?"

"At Castle's loft. You have the address?"

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. You know what to do, and don't go anyplace. Who else is there with you?"

"Castle, Officer Benton, and Captain Gates."

"May I speak to Gates?"

Kate heard a noise, looked up and saw Gates looking at her with her rage at least partly replaced by curiosity. "I'll put you on speaker if that's OK?" Kate said.

"Please do."

Kate touched the speaker icon on her phone, set it on the kitchen island countertop, and said, "Captain Gates, Special Agent Jordan Shaw."

Shaw said, "I'd rather meet under different circumstances but such is life. Please lock down the scene. I'm assuming command of the investigation, I'll explain why when I get there, but it is, as you will both see, a Federal matter. The attacks this evening are part and parcel of the conspirators' cover-up."

Gates flashed her furious look for a second, got herself back under control, and said, "I'll do as you say, but be prepared to show why you should be in charge when you haven't been invited in."

"I will."

"Why do you respond to Beckett like this? Normally a request like this requires going through channels."

"Beckett and Castle saved my life. I was kidnapped, held hostage, and taped to a chair in front of enough explosive to blow up a city block. By themselves they saw through the perps clever deception, went rogue on the FBI team in place, and rescued me. Then Kate, with capable backup from Castle, took the bad guy down. If Kate Beckett, Detective or private citizen, needs me, I'm there. Any questions?"

"Do you mind if I get some CSI's in here to catalog the situation in the bedroom that got all shot up?"

"No, that's a great idea."

"See you when you get here."

The connection was broken on Shaw's end.

Gates looked at Kate for a few seconds and said, "I'm beginning to realize why Montgomery was so high on you. But it isn't easy for an IAD trained Detective Captain to get her mind around the likes of you. You made a big mistake in judgment yesterday. You have to admit that. But I'm willing to hear what Shaw has to say. I've never met the woman. Is she any good?"

Kate poured two cups of coffee, handed one to Gates and said, "You have no idea."

Gates had a sip of the coffee and said, "You make a good cup of coffee, we can start by agreeing on that."

Kate smiled at Gates for what might be the first time and said, "We can. Now let me see if Castle is ready to join the fray?"

"He is," Castle said as he stepped into the kitchen. He acknowledged Gates by saying, "Captain, welcome to what's left of my home."

"I'd like to visit sometime under more favorable circumstances; let me get a crime scene team up here, and I'll rejoin you two." Gates headed back towards the front door and called out to Officer Benton.

Rick turned to Kate and said, "You two reached an uneasy truce?"

"I think so. Maybe. Staying alive tends to take priority over ambition."

"Special Agent Shaw coming?"

"Yes, she's going to take over the investigation. She thinks she's working on another part of the same conspiracy. Be interesting to hear what she has to say. Be advised, we may be cut out of it entirely. But maybe I can argue to get us included if we stay indoors and off the street, but only if you agree."

"Where? We can't stay at either apartment. We need to get protection for your Dad, Alexis, and Mother. And if Ryan and Esposito are back with us, for Jenny and Lanie too."

"I think Shaw has resources we can't imagine. She only works on major cases. And she is a profiler. Please let me take the lead?"

"Oh, definitely. I'm as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs at the moment."

Beckett liked the home grown analogy, stepped close, tilted her lips up for a kiss and was rewarded.

They had just managed to finish that, or Gates was uncharacteristically accommodating because at that moment she returned to the kitchen and said, "The adjacent rooftops are cleared and we have an officer on each of them standing watch for the moment. I don't know how long we will be here, but I have the mobile command center on the way. We will do a rotating check in with all the officers standing watch at 5 minute intervals."

Castle said, "I can put Commissioner Getz, AKA Mr. Smith, in context if you are willing to come to my office. I have a murder board there."

"Why am I not surprised?" Gates said dryly. "Lead the way Mr. Castle."

###

Rick had already activated it and had opened it to the full detail view. Kate saw him getting ready to explain it but shook her head and held up a finger in a "wait one" gesture, which stopped him. She wanted to give Gates a chance to absorb what was on it. She knew Gates should have most of the facts already in her head, but giving her a chance to get this in her mind before it was explained would work better.

"Please proceed, Mr. Castle," Gates requested after studying the board for at least a couple of minutes.

"The parts of this we know begin 20 years ago. Detective Raglan was drinking too much and losing too much at the racetrack. He got himself in debt to the wrong people and ended up doing favors for them, namely delivering heroin and cocaine across town in the trunk of his car. Being a Detective gave him a lot of latitude to be where he was needed for deliveries and pickups."

"He and Detective McAllister were partners. Somehow, the details are unknown, Raglan and McAllister went into business for themselves. They kidnapped thugs that were valuable to the various crime powers that be, roughed them up, and sold them back to the crime families. This lucrative little sideline went sideways when they accidentally killed an undercover FBI Agent, Bob Areman, in an alley.

"A thug named Joe Pulgatti took the fall for the crime; although, he didn't do it. He was in the alley when it happened, but not as the killer; he was the next intended victim of the kidnap/ransom scam. The FBI agent was apparently undercover investigating it.

"Johanna Beckett, Kate's mother, figured out Pulgatti was innocent. We're not quite sure how. When she started investigating his case in an attempt to right that wrong, she was killed. Her killer was Dick Coonan, a man who became a suspect in another murder that Beckett investigated. She figured out, with Dr. Parish's help, he was her mother's killer. When we tried to take him into custody in the precinct, he disarmed an officer in the precinct itself and marched us toward the elevator with the gun jammed into my kidney.

"When he got distracted for a second by Captain Montgomery, I felt the gun move off me and rear head butted him. He let go of me, and Beckett shot him before he could shoot me. He knew the name of the man behind it all but didn't tell us before he died.

"Then we got involved with a case where a professional killer named Hal Lockwood took Ryan and Esposito prisoner. He was torturing them when Beckett took him down."

Gates said, "You can mention your part in this. I know full well you jumped on Lockwood and took him down barehanded just before he would have shot Detective Beckett. I also know your part in saving Agent Shaw's life. So even though I would rather it was a cop as Beckett's partner, I let you stay because I've read about your role in closing cases. I am aware that you and Beckett found that dirty bomb in spite of Agent Fallon's unwitting sabotage of the investigation and disarmed it at the last second - quite by luck, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Please continue-"

Beckett could hardly believe what she was hearing. She stopped just short of asking, _who are you and what have you done with Captain Gates? _

Gates looked right at her, apparently saw her staring, interrupted herself and said, "Regardless of your opinion of my investigative abilities, I can read, and I do my homework. Now, Mr. Castle, if you would continue with your delightfully concise summary?"

Kate saw that Rick was apparently caught a little by surprise with these recent exchanges, but he appeared to recover quickly saying "Uh, yes ... okay, we took Lockwood down.

"He was in administrative segregation at Rikers. Beckett visited him once a week to see if he would say who hired him. He never did. Somebody paid one of the guards fifty thousand dollars to sign a paper releasing Lockwood into the general population. By that time McAllister, imprisoned for his part in Areman's murder, was in that same general population. Lockwood walked into his cell and calmly slit his throat.

"Beckett arrived as Lockwood raised his bloody hands and dropped the knife. Later that day he was brought to court to be arraigned for the murder of McAllister. Beckett saw him in the cage, walked up to him and said through the bars, 'He can't hide from me.' To which Lockwood replied, 'You have it ass backwards, sweetheart. You can't hide from him.'

"Beckett returned to join me in the court room. Lockwood was brought in and seated at the defense table. Three men dressed as police officers came into the court room just as proceedings were to start and sat right behind Lockwood. Beckett noticed something odd about their uniforms just about the time Lockwood turned around and said to them, 'now.' They tossed a stun grenade, shot the bailiff, hustled Lockwood out of the courtroom, down several flights of stairs and out to a helicopter waiting in the street. Beckett recovered more quickly than I did. She ran from the courtroom, pursued them to ground level and managed to get off a couple of shots at the helicopter. She hit it with at least one before it got completely out of range."

Gates looked at Beckett and said, "You managed to hit a helicopter as it was flying away from you?"

Beckett replied, "Yes." When she offered no additional information, Gates turned back to Castle and nodded for him to continue.

"The bullet hole was what led us to the helicopter. It was in a hanger at Teterboro airport. The owner was out of the country. It had been hijacked and landed in the street with perfect timing for the sole purpose of rescuing Lockwood. This rescue was executed with military precision. The haircuts were not military according to Esposito, so our theory is that they were mercenaries. Not mob hit men, but highly trained mercs who carry out missions like that in hostile territory."

Kate felt her nerves building as Castle got to the tricky part. _So far he's managed to avoid implicating Captain Montgomery in any part of the crime, _she thought. _But can he avoid it all together? I hope so._

Castle continued, "Kate and I had a quarrel. She was in the office with Esposito and Ryan. Captain Montgomery called her and said only that he'd found a clue and would she meet him at the hangar where they found the helicopter and he'd explain it. He called and asked me to join them. I got there before Kate did. We were together at the hangar. Montgomery sent Kate and me out back of the hangar to look at a van he'd seen, when an SUV drove up. Apparently it was a hit squad of some sort. Captain Montgomery ended up killing all four of the men who attacked him, including Lockwood, but in the few seconds it took for us to get back to the hangar; he had died of his wounds.

"Kate was shot through the chest by a sniper as she gave the eulogy at his funeral. It was a wound she barely survived." Castle choked up, caught himself and then continued, "She came back to work almost a year ago and fought her way back through a severe case of PTSD. She was haunted by the question of why she was still alive, why they hadn't tried again. She went to therapy a couple of times a week to work through her issues. She worked for a year as a detective under your command, Captain, with handicaps and trauma that would have seen a person of less character and fortitude give up – go hide in their closet and whimper. Esposito, Lanie, Ryan, and I surrounded her, supported her, so she could work through it and recover, and stay on duty. You were so self-involved, so preoccupied with preconceived notions, you didn't see any of it."

Kate could see some understanding beginning to show on Gates face, but she just said, "Continue, Mr. Castle."

"When Kate first returned to work after being shot, I got a call from a man who said I could call him Mr. Smith. He said he had files that were supposed to keep Beckett safe, but the deal was, she was only safe if she didn't investigate her mother's death or her own shooting. Kate was in no shape to take on these guys. I could see that, so could Ryan and Esposito. Unknown to Ryan, Esposito or Lanie, I worked to get Kate to back off. I told her we'd get these guys, just not today. Kate knew nothing of Mr. Smith until yesterday. She was under an awful lot of stress. A crazy level of stress. She didn't know from one day to the next why she was still alive, why the other foot didn't drop, when the next shot would come, and I didn't dare tell her. She went through hell dealing with the sniper case we had. I couldn't help her but Esposito could. The stress you feel from the death threat in the note you brought is but a drop compared to the tsunami of fear, uncertainty, and doubt Kate has been through over the last year since being shot. It would have driven a person of less character totally insane."

Castle paused, clearly retreating into himself thinking about something.

Gates said firmly, "please continue, Mr. Castle. Secrets are part of what caused this mess, now is not the time to be keeping any more of them."

Castle looked right at Gates and said, "I've been head over heels in love with Kate Beckett for almost two years. I watched her die in that ambulance on the way to the hospital. I never expected to talk to her again. When she survived, she wasn't able to face the fact that I was in love with her. She knew because I told her so as she lay dying."

"We've gotten that all straightened out as of less than 24 hours ago. She resigned and came here. We finally managed to communicate. At this point, she and I are _us_, we; you deal with one of us, you deal with both. I'm not asking, I'm telling."

Gates, not to be distracted from the main focus, looked at Kate who nodded. Gates said, "Got it. Please continue."

"When we found DNA that connected the murder of the burglar at Montgomery's house to the sniper rifle that was used in the attempted assassination of Kate, I was terrified for her safety. Mr. Smith called me and said if she didn't back off, he couldn't control the situation. When I confronted Kate, she wouldn't back down. She had a lead, and she was going to run at them head on. I knew she would be killed; these guys are more than she can take on by herself."

He looked at Kate and said, "Sorry sweetheart, but tough as you are, and you can take me, these guys are trained mercs. They are more than a match for anything this side of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team."

Kate saw the look in his eyes as he relived that moment and said, "Captain Gates, he tried to warn me off; he tried with every fiber of his being. He put himself all out there, and I turned him down flat. He couldn't watch me die again, so he left, for good." Her eyes close in pain, and she continued, "He said we were over.

"Even that didn't stop me. Esposito and Ryan disagreed. We found a lead and identified Cole Maddox as the suspect. Esposito came with me because he knew he couldn't stop me and wouldn't let me go alone. Ryan did the right thing and told you what we were up to. Ryan saved my life because I couldn't talk him out of it. Esposito tried to save it by having my back and almost died for his efforts.

"It was my fault, though on my behalf, if you weren't so ramrod stuck up and hard to approach, we might have come to a different place. You need to learn to hear what you don't want to hear without eviscerating the messenger or you will never realize your ambitions for rank and power."

Gates didn't come unglued; she just looked at Kate for a second and said, "You have a point." She turned her gaze in his direction and asked, "Mr. Castle, is there more?"

"For purposes of completeness, Kate completely astonished me by showing up at my door just after dark last night and convinced me she loves me too. The shots came through my bedroom window while we were asleep in my bed. Kate managed to roll me out of bed onto the floor and drag me to a location of shelter from the machine gun fire. We watched as it chewed the bed where we had been sleeping just a couple of seconds before into confetti.

"That, with what you know has happened since, brings us to this second."

Gates looked at Castle, Beckett, and back to Castle, for several seconds before she said, "That's some story. I can hardly wait to hear what Agent Shaw has to add to it. Will you go through it again for her? I'd like to sit in on that, not to check or second guess, but for a chance to relate individual occurrences to what I now know is the skeleton of the story."

Then Gates turned to Beckett and said, "Kate, is there a refill in that pot?"

Kate noted the use of her first name but didn't react and just said, "Of course, follow me."

###

Castle, his coffee cold, followed them to the kitchen, stuck his almost full cup in the microwave, and punched the one minute button. Kate poured another cup for Gates who thanked her and sat on one of the stools by the island. She looked around the loft for the first time since her arrival.

Kate, sensed this was the calm before the storm and asked Rick, "Is that pair of jeans I left here last year still here?"

Rick was genuinely surprised and said, "Uh ... yes, I think they are. Come with me. We'll get them, and enough to make you presentable, and maybe we can change in the guest room before Shaw gets here. We'll never hear the end of it otherwise."

Kate said, "We won't anyway, but I'll still feel better."

Gates looked puzzled, and Kate said, "Story for another day. Excuse us for a few minutes; we'll be right back."

Gates said, "I'm going to get Ryan and Esposito over here. I'll call them while you guys do what you are going to do."

Kate stared at her. Gates said, "I know, but they will come if they know you two have been shot at, and you, Beckett, will get them to work together as a team again. We are going to need their help."

Kate nodded and headed off after Castle to get some clothes. Braless in a T-shirt wasn't her thing. At least for general audiences.

When they got to the bedroom, Castle turned to take her in his arms. She came willingly but flinched big time when he touched her. He said, "You come to the bathroom and some light right now, I want to see what's happened to my woman."

Kate wanted to resist but couldn't deny him. She hadn't seen the after effects from the beating she'd had either. He turned on the light; she helped him lift off the T-shirt, and they both gasped. Her torso was black and blue with big forming bruises. Kate knew she didn't bruise easily; she hadn't had a single one even after that knock down drag out sparring match with Deming, but she looked like a human punching bag. She dropped the sweat pants and found more bruises and some scabs from cuts and gouges on her body from the waist down. There were some on her back as well.

Castle said, "How the hell did you … you should have stopped me ... you need a doctor."

Kate knew she didn't. she had no broken ribs or bones, and no wounds that needed stitches. Her pupils were the same size. Though there were going to be blood smears all over Castle's sheets. She said, "I couldn't stop you. I didn't even feel pain then, not till this morning. I don't need a doctor, but you are going to need new sheets or something to get the blood stains out of them. I think some of these scabs are pretty fresh. Let's just use some tape and gauze on these two and get dressed. You may find you have some blood on you as well."

She could feel his look as well as see it. He reached out and very tenderly caressed one of the bruises. She resisted flinching but he saw her move. He said, "Okay, but these are going to hurt."

She said, "If we go outside and get shot on the way to an ER, trust me on this, it will hurt worse."

"You have a point."

"So can we get back to rounding up clothes before Jolly Jordan shows up and mocks us into nothing while Gates watches?

"On it. Your jeans are here, and you can try this T-shirt. I think it belongs to Alexis. If it doesn't fit we can check out her drawers. She has dozens.

"Ok, I'll keep the flip-flops for the time being. My body does not feel like dealing with heels."

After being careful not to step on any glass as they left the bedroom, they headed upstairs to the guest room to change. Beckett felt a lot better in her own jeans. She would have liked a somewhat drier bra, but the one she had didn't show through the black T-shirt of Alexis's she'd borrowed.

Armored in more conventional clothes, they headed back down the stairs to wait for Jordon Shaw to make an appearance.

Just then a team of 4 crime scene investigators arrived. Captain Gates intercepted them and said, "I need you to do a good thorough job, but we also need you out of here in a couple of hours if you can do that without compromising the integrity of the evidence."

The lead CSI nodded and said, "Let me take a look at it. The assailants were outside, so the evidence related to them will be out there. All we will have in here is bullets and damage. We should be able to catalog that pretty quickly. If it turns out we won't make it in a couple of hours, I'll have a reason why. The major work is on the roof top. I have 4 techs up there now."

Gates said, "Thank you, follow me." She led them to Castle's bedroom and left them to do their jobs.

**AN: Please use the blue button and leave a comment. For a new author to learn requires feedback. What did you like? What might have been better? What surprised you? What did you see coming?**


	3. Chapter 3, Profile of Evil

**AN: Again, many thanks to Patricia Lousie and Gwynne for mentoring me through this process and taking the time to proof read this. Any mistakes that remain are mine alone.**

**Thank you for the story alerts, author alerts, and reviews. They make my day.**

**Again, I own nothing. The amazing characters upon which this story are based belong to the owners of the TV series CASTLE, Mr. Marlow, and company. **

**Chapter 3, Profile of Evil.**

They reached the bottom of the stairs just as Jordan Shaw arrived. She was wearing a business suit with skirt that showed off her dazzling legs without being unprofessional, not much makeup and a look of concern for Beckett's well-being.

Shaw had seen Kate and Castle descend the last couple of steps. She walked right past Gates to stand in front of Beckett and say, "Kate, he beat the crap out of you, do you need a doctor? Any broken ribs?"

Kate was amazed at how well this woman could read people. She noticed the use of her first name instead of Detective Beckett, so she might know pretty much everything. It seemed she was offering to be an ally as opposed to the competition. Kate decided to take her at face value and reply in kind. "Hi Jordon," she said. "Rick and I are okay, we got out of the bed before the machine gun chewed it up. And yes, Maddox beat the crap out of me. Nothing I could do fazed him at all. It was like hitting the incredible hulk. He just smiled and beat the crap out of me, flipped me over the edge of the roof. I happen to get a tenuous grip on the ledge. He looked at me, smiled and walked away. Detective Ryan got there and grabbed my left arm just as my fingers were slipping off the ledge. I'm telling you this because no two men are going to be able to take him down; he's too good. Three or four men, or three twelve gage slugs in the heart, are the best way."

Jordon said, "Next time take backup?"

"Yeah, I learned that one all over again."

Jordon turned to Castle and said, "Rick, you doing okay? I understand they shot the place up pretty bad." She moved over towards him but only shook his hand.

"Physically, fine. I'm just getting seriously pissed at this asshole who keeps hiring people to kill my girlfriend. I like Kate's twelve gage slug idea."

"We need to figure out who he is first."

"I've been thinking about that for nearly three years, ever since Dick Coonan was killed and McAllister said we woke the Dragon. When you have time, I can give you my profile of what I think we should be looking for."

"I'd like that; you go first, and then we can compare notes." Turning toward Gates she said, "You must be Captain Gates, I'm Special Agent Jordon Shaw."

Gates held out her hand looking hard at Shaw. Kate saw the look and thought, Gates thinks she can size this woman up quickly and accurately. Could happen; but not likely. Kate knew Shaw was a profiler. The woman was adept with the unavoidable politics of her position, but she managed to conduct herself in a way that didn't let politics prevent her from doing what, in her view, was the right thing to do. Shaw was an interesting combination of knowing what was politically correct and getting the right thing done in spite of it. Even more impressive, she seemed to be able to figure out what the right thing to do was more often than not.

All this flashed through Kate's mind before Gates spoke, "Okay, tell me why you think this is a Federal Case?"

"I will, but first I'd like to hear Mr. Castle's theory, or profile, of whom or what we are looking for. I don't want to influence it by saying anything first."

Gates said, "Fine. Mr. Castle, if you please?"

Kate had no idea what Rick was going to say, but he had the timeline pretty much memorized. He was a bestselling novelist, and he could spin pretty good theory's to fit the facts. So she found herself looking forward to hearing his theory of the case.

Rick said, "I'd like to do it in front of my murder board, if you would follow me to my office?" He turned and headed that way before anyone could object.

When they got there Shaw said, "My, my Rick, you did like the FBI version didn't you?"

"I did, I do, and this is the best I could do without the links into the databases and toys you have at labs and other places. This one is just a text and picture database driven version of the ones Beckett did at the Twelfth. I use it to outline my novels."

Rick hesitated for a moment, looked at Agent Shaw and asked, "Do you have a recorder so you can capture this story?"

"Yes, in my purse, just a second." Kate watched Agent Shaw head for the kitchen and then turned to see Rick running his hands across the murder board but not quite touching it as he apparently organized his thoughts for a coherent presentation.

Agent Shaw returned, set the recorder on his desk between them, turned it on and said, "It's on."

"Will you give me a copy later?

"Of course."

Kate saw Gates was just looking impatient, apparently Rick did too because he looked at the board and started his profile.

"Okay, thanks. Let me start with the description of him now, and then back track to show how I end up with that. Okay?" Kate said nothing but saw that both Gates and Shaw nodded.

"I think we are looking for a white male in his late fifties or early sixties who holds an elective office, probably in the United States House of Representatives. Unless they molest aides, United States Congressmen can be well below the radar except in their districts, and have long, unproductive careers feeding at the federal trough with plenty of time to use their office for all sorts of unsavory things. He has represented either the City of New York, or a district in upstate New York. He is rich well beyond anybody's expectations, but most of it is in off-shore accounts in liquid form. Like cash, or gold. Probably some place north of two hundred million. It's liquid as opposed to being invested because he always faces the risk of being found out, so he has to be able to literally take the money and run. I think his recent actions are misplaced arrogance, and that may be his vulnerability. This latest act has gotten him on the front burner Agent Shaw. I hope you are willing to turn up the heat."

Shaw nodded, and then apparently remembering the recorder, said, "Yes, we are."

Rick said, "Good," looking right at her, then continued with his narrative, "He lives well, but not beyond the means for his above the board employment, at least in his home of record, wherever that is. He may have other residences here or overseas that he owns through his business interests. If so, there will be absences that can be found which might allow us to trace him. Anyway, it's a pattern we might look for.

"His personal staff may be larger than normal considering he is in Washington, D.C. most of the time, but they aren't on the government payroll so nobody minds. He isn't after the money; he wants the power, the control. The money is just a tool he can use to control people. But staff size is a parameter that we might use as part of a cross reference to discriminate.

"To further narrow it down, he started in politics being elected to his first office no later than age 30. He was a popular candidate, could be either party, but he was an influential figure before he was elected. He might have been an athlete in high school and again in college, but not a pro. So length of time in office is something we should use.

"He has a way about him that impresses people, and can be very intimidating when he's frustrated in achieving his goals. This is not a guy that wants to hear bad news. He was ruthless as a younger man, maybe getting his own hands dirty, but he hasn't done his own dirty work for years. He worked his way up and accumulated enough cash to buy his way into the drug trade without being personally known to anybody. Raglan first ran across his shirt tails when he got over his head in debt to a loan shark that had some sort of connection to our suspect. In 1991, I'm hypothesizing he offered Raglan, through an intermediary, a way out as opposed to having the money beaten out of him. McAllister and Raglan knew who he was. That's why they had to die. I think any of us would recognize his name if we heard it.

"But they can't be the first, or the last, that died to cover his tracks, so we also have the possibility of looking for someone who's leaving a trail of dead bodies. They might be hard to find, and they may be setup as accidents, but if we are in the ballpark, they might start to come to the surface. They would be people who were either in the edges of the underworld or freelancing like McAllister and Raglan who suffered unexpected death.

"Raglan worked for his organization for a while. He transported drugs around the city. He took advantage of the relative immunity of his car from search, and his detective status allowed him to be just about any place in the city within reason. This probably didn't last long because Raglan and McAllister figured out a better way to get money.

"Raglan and McAllister were partners and decided to freelance a little. They figured it was okay to harass bad guys, shake them down, because they couldn't complain. So they started their kidnapping of crooks for ransom back to the families. I'm not sure how often they did this, but there might be some clues in old newspapers, or hospital admissions. I got the impression they worked them over pretty good.

"He continued to build his organization, but when Raglan and McAllister accidentally killed an undercover FBI agent, Bob Areman, in an alley in 1992 while trying to kidnap him, it was going to bring down a storm. Raglan was assigned to investigate the killing which worked right into our unknown suspect's hands. They framed a local thug, Joe Pulgatti, who had a bad rep but hadn't been successfully convicted of anything yet, and had him put in jail for the crime. He is still in jail. Beckett and I interviewed him. He remembered her mother. He also warned us there was nothing more dangerous than a killer with a badge, or something like that.

"In 1998, Johanna Beckett was working on a project to find people wrongly convicted. She figured out Pulgatti was framed. She met with him at least once at Rikers. The Dragon couldn't let that investigation continue. If Pulgatti went free, it would mean someone else killed Bob Areman, and the hunt would start all over again with the FBI behind it. He couldn't allow that to happen, so he hired Dick Coonan to kill her in 1999.

"Coonan was once a merc, mercenary. Our Unsub had ties to the military; some of which were probably formed during the aftermath of Desert Storm, which was August 1990 to the end of February 1991. There were some private companies hired to do tasks the U.S. didn't want the military to do in the aftermath of that war. He was in the shadows as the major investor and absentee manager of at least one of those companies, maybe more, sometimes to the point of pretty much owning them outright. He was in competitive businesses; sometimes a little cleansing was in order. I'm hypothesizing he was involved in that in a way that both made him a lot of money and put him in contact with people like Dick Coonan, who did the wet work for him.

"He leveraged that and ran for the United States Congress between 1996 and 1998. He was already in the United States House of Representatives when he had Johanna Beckett and her co-workers killed to keep her quiet about Pulgatti being framed. Notice, he killed several people who worked together all within the same time period. If the databases are organized so that they connect that sort of thing, they might pop up suspicious circumstances that could lead us some place useful.

"Then came nine-eleven and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Lots of contractor companies were hired at obscene cost by the U.S. Government to do sometimes unsavory tasks. Our Unsub worked the angles and ended up in control of at least one, maybe more, of those companies. He funneled his profits to off-shore accounts but most important, was in a position to locate and hire people like the chopper pilot and the three fake police officers Beckett and I saw break Lockwood out of the court room. That operation, its timing, organization and the pilot flying the aircraft – pretty much everything, was conducted with precision well beyond the capability of normal NY street thugs. The two teams who staged simultaneous attempted assassinations of Kate and me last night are another possible lead. We should look at their weapon choice and MO to see if we can find patterns that match.

"His journey on the road to power and riches got a huge boost when he confiscated the money Raglan and McAllister had taken as ransoms for the kidnappings in 1992. That was probably a nice little nest egg, something like two or three million as an estimate. That was his investment capital which he put into building a contracting business after Desert Storm.

"The bank through which Raglan and McAllister had funneled their ransom money went out of business some time before 1998, or maybe in 1998. The timing of the bank going out of business isn't important except it was after 1992 and before 1998. The bank records were stored in a warehouse. Three weeks after Johanna Beckett was killed, the warehouse where the bank records were stored was burned down. Beckett and I believed the arson investigator falsified his report. When we confronted him, he passed the word up the line, and Mr. Smith, who we now know was Deputy Commisioner Getz, called me for the first time to see if I could get Beckett to stop investigating. I was able to do that.

"But back to the time line. When the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars started, he figured out quickly there was a lot of money to be made. So he used his position in Congress to influence bills that were of the most benefit to him and his company. He knew that service organizations staffed with highly-trained employees would bring top dollar, especially if the employees were former Special Forces, or former CIA officers. And he had a head start on it with contacts from his prior effort after Desert Storm.

"He got back into that business big time, essentially contracting for protection and guard duties. It's no secret the government got ripped off, but there hasn't been any sustainable motivation to investigate either. Hundreds of millions, billions, were circulating through the system, and he was in position to siphon off a big percentage of whatever his company earned. The early contracts were lucrative. He got in on the ground floor.

"He's still in business. Or if he isn't, this is the first term he hasn't been in three decades or more. He has and uses his contacts with the mercenary and ex-military circles to hire the best professionals he can find. He pays well; they take the job because it's the easiest money they've ever made. They are the big dogs. They have resources, training, experience, deadly hand-to-hand and weapons skills, and precision teamwork that they feel makes them essentially invulnerable. The three guys that came into the courtroom to free Lockwood had exactly zero doubt they would be successful even though their extraction plan depended on a helicopter landing on a NY street to pick them up."

At that point, Castle seemed to run out of story. He finished up by saying, "I didn't have the resources on my own to try to identify this guy, and I was frankly afraid to look because at the first disturbance in _the force_, he'd have Kate and me in his sights, literally. Now, it's all changed, and it's his doing. The mirage of safety that held us back is gone. He violated it, so while it's open season on us, it's open season on him too. He brought it on himself, and for the first time, we have the advantage of numbers, resources, and time. That's it, that's my take on the characteristics of who I think we are looking for, and his back-story."

There was silence for several seconds while everybody seemed to consider the rather amazing speech they had just heard. Beckett was astonished by the thoroughness and detail, the way everything they knew was tied in. She'd had no idea Castle had arrived at this… this… call it a profile, or hypothetical history. She was stunned. Looking at the others, she could see all but Shaw were really surprised. Kate felt a lot of pride in what her man had been able to figure out. She held her breath waiting for a response from Shaw or Gates.

Finally Shaw said, "That is amazing. Kate, did you know this?"

"No. This is the first time he's shared his theory with me. I had nothing to do with it. He took the data from our investigation and thought this through on his own. I didn't even see this murder board till this morning. I knew he manipulated me to stop me from investigating. He told me yesterday morning, and I gave him hell for not telling me earlier. He left. I made most of his fears come true. I ignored what he told me, ran right at Maddox, and that almost got Esposito and me killed. It would have if Ryan hadn't saved me."

Kate watched Gates' face through all of this and saw a kaleidoscope of emotions flicker across it. Finally Gates said, "Mr. Castle, that was well done. There is a lot of hypothesis in there; it's theory, but it doesn't leave any facts unaccounted for that I remember. And, as you pointed out, it gives us a lot of potential leads. I need to go through the files I got this morning; they are in my brief case."

Castle asked, "May I copy them? Distribute them to the rest of the team? We need to see if there is anything in there that invalidates this profile. The sooner the better."

Kate could see Gates biting off her initial reaction to refuse, but after a few seconds she said, "Yes, you may, but realize they are very sensitive. His information can't get out until we are ready to slap the cuffs on this guy. I don't know how Getz got these files, but they are the real deal. Originals."

Shaw said, "Captain Gates, we need to re-open the investigation of Beckett's shooting, Areman's murder, and Johanna Beckett's murder as the platform for opening an investigation into this conspiracy Mr. Castle has outlined. If he is right, and his conclusions both parallel those of my investigation and are in considerably more detail, we need to get the facts to confirm or deny this hypothesis. And I'm going to need your help to do it the fastest it can be done. Clearly leaving this guy out there doing his thing is not an option. The murder of a Federal Agent, in this case Bob Areman, plus the possibility of a United States Contressman being involved, makes it FBI jurisdiction."

Gates said, "I agree." Kate glanced at her again to be sure it really was Gates. Gates replied to the look saying, "Don't look so surprised, Beckett. With that picture of the case, I want the FBI to take it over. We don't have the resources to do this justice. It may involve elected officials at the federal level. We don't know if there are moles in the NYPD, but we sure have the local knowledge, and four known trustworthy people, Castle, Esposito, Ryan, and you, to take the investigative lead, or at least have a strong role in it. It's up to you and Agent Shaw at this point."

###

Kate saw Gates hesitate and wondered what was behind that. Finally Gates asked, "Agent Shaw, how do you want to set it up, and who do you want to support you from the NYPD?"

"With Mr. Castle's permission, I would like to headquarter the investigation right here with Beckett leading the investigation. I think she's in a state of mind that will let her do a better job than anyone I can think of at the moment."

Castle said, "Doing it here is fine, just not in the office. But I need to get the bedroom fixed so it can be occupied. And something has to be done to protect the entire family and significant others surrounding the investigators: Alexis, my mother in the Hamptons, Jenny, Lanie, Beckett's Dad, Gates and her family, for example."

Shaw said, "I'll arrange for the damage in the bedroom to be fixed at government expense, at least to the point the place can be occupied, and we will provide Federal Marshal's to patrol the rooftops and the entrance to this building. I can get marshals who have never been east of the Mississippi to avoid them being compromised. I have two reasons for wanting it here. Castle's daughter can stay here under guard with her Dad - otherwise she would have to be in witness protection till this was over. Second, it minimizes the need for Castle and Beckett, who are clearly active targets, to be outside. It's still open season on Castle and Beckett. I have no doubt there are hired killers watching for them to leave the building right now. Travel to and from the Twelfth is way too much of a risk."

Kate saw Shaw look down, then she scanned their faces and continued, "There are several aspects of this I need to cover; so please, just let me work through it, then ask questions.

"I'd like a very small team, at least initially. From the NYPD: yourself, Esposito, and Ryan. I'm also going to want Ms. Beckett to lead it. Mr. Castle here as involved as he is willing to be.

"I'm willing to offer Castle and Beckett both badges and guns if I have to. I know Beckett resigned, and I won't ask her to take that back. That is up to her, but I can offer her a job with the FBI as a full Agent if she wants it, either as a career or till this is over, her choice. I can't afford to hire Mr. Castle away from his books, but I would if I could.

"I will be here unless I'm needed in the field. I expect Esposito and Ryan to work in the field but always accompanied by a pair of Federal Marshals as additional security, and they should always wear a vest with a ceramic chest plate. Beyond my participation, I will limit FBI involvement to murder board support and lab and data search requests. I will expand our support, especially in the legal support arena when that is appropriate. If my suspicions are correct, we are going to have several United States Attorneys and Judges involved before this is over. Data requests will be routed through Quantico on an Eyes Only basis. Assuming Castle is correct, and he may be very close, there could be corruption in every agency at many levels. I need to compartmentalize this investigation for it to succeed.

"Mr. Castle?"

"I'm all in. We have a guest room that will be vacant once the master bedroom gets cleaned up – if you become a target you can stay here. We can set up the living area as a meeting room. I can move the Murder board out of my office. I'd just as soon keep the investigation out of there to minimize traffic if that's okay with you. We may use it as a meeting room now and then."

"However you want to organize it. Where is your Mother? Where is Alexis? Will she be back soon?"

"Mother is in the Hamptons. When she comes back, she can live at her school studio or here, which ever works best for her. If she is at her school studio, she will need protection. Alexis is at her friend Megan's for an overnight. She needs protection to get from there to here."

"I will arrange for that. Any other questions, Mr. Castle?"

"Knowing this guy like we do, I'm really concerned he might try to kidnap someone close to the team and hold them while he negotiates for immunity. Killing them won't do him any good, but having one hostage might. Is there something we should be doing to make sure nobody gets kidnapped?"

Jordon replied, "You are correct, that's his best leverage. But he's not limited to those close to the team; he could go after anybody, the Mayor, for example. So we'll just have to pay attention and get this over quickly."

"Okay. I know the contractor I'd like to call to get the bedroom fixed. I will pay for it and see what the insurance company is willing to pickup. But it's a little after eight o'clock, and I'd like to give them a call to get them started if we can take a quick break?"

"Go ahead and get that rolling. I'll talk to Kate in the mean time. Uh ... Captain Gates, you have been quieter that I expected. Questions? Thoughts?"

Kate saw Gates follow the conversation with wide open eyes. Now it was Gates' turn. She said, "I need to have a word with Ms. Beckett if that's okay with her."

Kate said, "We can talk here or in the living room, your choice."

"Here works just fine. Folks, can we please have a few minutes alone in here."

Shaw and Castle nodded, Castle said, "Jordon, may I freshen up your coffee?"

And they left. Captain Gates closed the door, and remained standing.

Kate felt no compulsion to speak, so she just stood there looking at Gates.

Finally Gates said "Are you okay Kate, you walk, sit, and get up and down like you'd been run over by a truck."

Kate didn't say anything; she just pulled up her T-shirt to just below her bra and turned around.

Gates gasped, "Jezzus, Beckett. Shaw's right, he beat the crap out of you. That's got to hurt."

"Nothing's broken. I think I might have ripped something in my right shoulder; it hurts and I can't get my arm up over my head. But don't worry; Castle will take care of me."

"Do you want your badge and gun back?"

Kate thought about that. _I resigned because I wanted to be gone, to move on to something else. To be more than I was in the job. To be defined by more than my mother's case. To be good enough for him. To permanently take myself out of the investigation so they wouldn't come after me or Castle. It didn't work. Mr. Smith was killed. Gates and Castle had the files; they came after me anyway. He started this. I was out of it, and he brought me back in by burglarizing Montgomery's house. It is clear now they always intended to … He always intended to kill me. I had no future. I just didn't know it. For some reason the Dragon doesn't want me to live. I wish I knew why…if I knew why I bet it would lead me right to him. _

It wasn't her nature to be defenseless, to take a whipping and whimper. She was surprised to not feel anger or heat. Just a calculated focus when she mentally what-iffed the idea of leading the investigation. _I could do this better than anybody else and way better today than I could have done it yesterday. But I can't do anything without Castle being there with me. We do it together, or I don't do it at all. The only option if we don't do it is go into witness protection – we won't survive the week unarmed and on our own if we don't. Castle will not do well in witness protection – he's too well-known, and he couldn't give up writing. _

She said, "I need to talk to Castle before I answer that. We are together now. We've agreed it's permanent. It's not just my decision now."

Gates said, "I need to know soon so I can set up the team."

Beckett ignored the 'soon' and said in a flat tone, "If the investigation command center is located here, I'll be on it, like it or not, but I won't leave the building till it's over. I can't run the team without the badge. Your question is, do I want to run the investigation?"

Gates said, "It's that, but it's more than that."

"One step at a time. Let me talk to Castle, I'll be back."

Kate walked into the kitchen where she found Castle with his big, party coffee pot in hand. He looked up with concern written on his face and said, "You okay?"

Jordon looked back and forth between then and said, "I'll leave you two to talk."

Beckett smiled in her direction and said, "Thanks."

Castle looked his question at her. She said, "Gates offered me my badge and gun back." She saw Castle start to react, stepped close and gently placed a finger on his lips, "Give me a minute, Rick; hear me out before you start composing a reply, please?"

Castle nodded.

Kate said, "I resigned because all I wanted was you, to be with you, to live my life with you, to finally stop being defined by what was done to my mother twelve years ago. I suddenly realized I could be good enough for you if I just stopped being broken. Holding the badge, at that moment in Gates' office, it wasn't the symbol of the me I wanted to be. I wanted to be more. I wanted to be gone, to move on to something else. To permanently take myself out of the investigation so they wouldn't come after you or me. It didn't work. Mr. Smith was tortured and killed. Gates and you had the files; they came after us, both of us with nothing to gain. It is clear now he always intended to kill me. Now he intends to kill us.

"After last night, when we finally reached a completely pure understanding of our commitment to each other, lying there in your arms I felt completely at peace. At peace with myself, my life, for the first time since the night before my mom was murdered. I had let it go. It was, it is, such a wonderful feeling.

"I still feel that peace, Rick. Even standing here talking about it, I feel at peace. I can talk to you about it and not feel like it's threatening our relationship. We're beyond it in that sense. I'm over it. But I want him, the Dragon, whoever the hell he is, brought down. Not just for killing my mother, not just for trying to kill us, but because of what he represents. He is just plain evil."

Rick gently enfolded her in his arms and held her close, and that simple hug felt so good she almost melted. She didn't want him to stop. He said, "Kate, I'm good with whatever you want to do. This isn't about us. Us is decided; this is about you; it's your decision, and I'm all in with you either way."

She nodded her head against his chest, looked up and said, "In my current frame of mind, I'm the Dragon's worst nightmare. _We_ are the Dragon's worst nightmare. The way Jordon said she'd set this up, we'd have all the resources we'd need. We have the files from Mr. Smith, your theory which is festooned with starting points, and because we are well protected from retaliation by him, time is more on our side than his. And, even if he strikes at us, it just exposes him more. Sooner or later we are going to get in a room with someone that knows who he is, someone who will talk before he or she is killed. It's just a matter of time and persistence. Gates and Shaw are committed to getting this done. Gates because she is being personally threatened, Shaw because her whole motivation is locking up evil doers. I would take immense pleasure in you and me leading the team to take him down. You want us to do that?"

Rick said, "You bet I do. I'd get a lot of pleasure out of it too. Let's do this."

Kate said, "Good," eased out of his arms with a kiss and headed for the living room where she found Jordon watching the news on TV. She interrupted her concentration on the news story which showed the outside of the loft saying, "Jordon, we need to talk."

Jordon said, "You are willing to lead the team, and you have Castle's blessing." It was a statement. Kate saw no doubt, not a question anyplace in her voice or expression.

By now Kate was used to how Jordon could read people so she replied, "Yes. Is that OK with you?"

"I couldn't be happier. I am nominally in command, but you have a blank check. I think for the first time in your life you are really ready to take this guy on. Kate, I want him brought down so bad I can taste it."

"Shall we go let Gates in on the plan?"

"Kate, she's a lot smarter than you give her credit for," Shaw said. "On top of which she has tremendous respect for your investigative skills, and Castle's."

"You're kidding."

"I am not kidding, shall we find out if I'm close?"

"Yeah, how do we do that?"

"Ask her if she has your badge and gun with her. If she does, I'm right."

"I'll ask her exactly that."

With that they turned and headed for the office. They came in to find Gates on the phone; obviously it was with Esposito, and he was not being cooperative.

Kate raised an eyebrow and held out her hand. Gates handed her the phone as she heard Esposito saying, "...keep it up and I'll resign just like Beckett did."

Kate said, "Javi, please don't." There was stunned silence on the other end.

"Beckett?"

"Yeah. We need to talk, Bro. But if you would come over to Castle's loft, we can do it here. I can't leave right now. You heard what happened?"

"Yeah, about five minutes ago I got a call from Gates; woke me up out of a sound sleep. She said they shot the bed you and Castle were in to pieces, his bed, his bedroom; shot your bed to pieces in your bedroom, ransacked your apartment. You are back with him? Yeah, we _do_ need to talk."

"We're going after him, Javi. Jordon Shaw wants me to lead the team, so does Gates." She looked at Gates who nodded. "Castle has a really good theory that is consistent with every single bit of evidence we have. We can use that, and some other new data I haven't studied yet, as a jumping off point. I want you-"

Esposito cut her off asking, "FBI Agent Jordon Shaw?"

"Yes. She's willing to throw all the resources of the FBI and any other Federal Agency we need into the investigation, but our team, the four of us, would be the core of the investigation. …Javi, I really need you and Ryan both on the team. Please join us, we need you."

There was silence. Kate could close her eyes and imagine the expression on Javi's face: lips pursed, eyes intense, head shaking and nodding, hands making quick short movements. She waited him out. Gates move towards her, Kate shook her head and held up a finger. Then she heard what she expected, "Okay, I'll be there, but it better be the best damn theory ever in the history of mankind."

"It is, Javi, it is."

"I need to call Lanie, and then I'm on my way."

Kate broke the connection, held the phone out to Gates and said, "We need to talk, but he's in. You talk to Ryan?"

"Yes, he's on his way over."

"I hope they don't ride up together in the elevator, I need to talk to them separately and then together, and then leave them alone to work it out. Be better in a gym, but they'll just have to be civilized enough to do it here."

Gates said, "Esposito would wipe the floor with Ryan."

Kate replied, "Don't be so sure. Kevin is no wimp. He grabbed my forearm in one hand and pulled me up to where the rest of you could grab me. Lockwood was nowhere near getting him to break when he was torturing him." She paused for a second, looked right at Gates and asked, "You have my badge and gun with you?"

Gates opened her purse, pulled them out and offered them to Beckett. Kate took them and said, "Thanks, we'll talk again when this is over." It wasn't a question. She slid the badge over the waistband of her pants. Then she popped the clip, checked the counter holes to be sure it was full, felt the extractor protruding from the side of the slide with her trigger finger, and stuck it in her back pocket till she could have someone retrieve her holster from her apartment.

Gates just nodded; then she said, "I have Javi's badge and gun too."

Kate looked at her again, careful not to smile, and said, "Thanks. That will be convenient. I think I can get him on board."

Kate paused then added, "Before I forget, I want a Glock for Castle and a pair of semi-auto 20ga shotguns. Mossberg SA20's would be just fine."

Gates said, "No way on the Glock for Castle."

Shaw said, "Kate, give him this one." She turned slightly away from them, lifted her skirt, and pulled a Glock 26 out of a thigh holster.

Gates eyes opened wide for a second. She said, "He can't have there here without a permit."

Shaw asked, "There a fax here. Kate, please give me the number, and I'll have a Federal permit here for Castle in the next half hour."

Gates looked like she was going to resist, then backed off and said, "I'll get you a couple of the department 12ga Remington 870s."

Kate said, "Captain, you've seen my bruises, I can't shoot a 12, maybe not even a 20, but I'll do better with the 20, and in close quarters, it's every bit as good as the 12. And I know Castle will do better with a 20. I'm pretty sure I can get Jordon to extend the permit so Castle can buy them himself; he'd do that for me in a heartbeat."

Gates said, "Have Castle call his favorite gun store; the guy can bring them here, and I'll sign off on the paperwork. Buy whatever you want."

Kate said, "Thanks."

Shaw watched the exchange, apparently concluded her Glock 26 wasn't needed, put it back in its hidden holster. "Let me summarize," Shaw said. "I want us all to be clear on the arrangements. Beckett gets her badge and gun back, along with some additional weapons. She will be leading the team from here, Castle's loft. Ryan, Esposito and Castle will make up her team. Nominally, I will be in charge, but I already told Kate she has a blank check. I will make sure we have all the legal, lab, and database support we need. Ryan and Esposito will go out to follow leads but with full time back up from a couple of Federal Marshals. Castle, Beckett, and Alexis don't leave. I provide security on roof tops, etc."

Gates said, "We are on the same page so far. I'll be at the Twelfth most of the time. I'll check in here when it is necessary. How do we handle interrogations? This isn't a good place to do that."

Beckett said, "Let me make a suggestion: Agent Shaw provides us with a safe house that has an interrogation room. You or Ryan and Esposito do them there. We can't take a chance on a mole in the NYPD finding out what we are learning, and we want potential witnesses to know their identity can in fact be protected. We can use FaceTime on a couple of iPads to watch from here when we need to. I bet Jordon's Geek Squad can even arrange an ear bug that allows us to review data here and prompt you with questions or facts that might occur to us in the course of an interrogation, right?" She looked in Agent Shaw's direction.

"Oh yeah, my tech guys will love that. Rick, you have encrypted wireless here, right?"

"Yeah, a MAC AirPort Extreme base station," he said with some evident pride. "Squirts data like a fire hose."

Shaw smiled, "I expected nothing less. Hang on a minute," she retrieved a small note pad from her purse, "I need to start a list." She made a quick note then said, "I'll have the FBI board moved up here, I can run it, but if you don't mind, I'd like to bring in a team of three techs from Colorado to run it. They've never worked east of the Mississippi other than for training. They can be here one at a time on a rotating shift. One of them, Agent Kimberly Martin, is in town for a meeting. I'm assured Castle's broadband connection is adequate for communications, it's encrypted from the router to the PC so they can't break into it, and the board itself has built-in encryption for communicating back to Quantico. I can think better if I'm not distracted by the mechanics of interfacing with the board."

Gates said simply, "I agree with all of this, but I'd like to add one thing."

Jordon and Kate looked at her, "I want to be part of the team as well. Kate is in command of the investigation; she gets her blank check, but I want to help. I'll be honest with you; I need to help or I won't be able to lead the Twelfth."

Kate said, "Sounds like a plan. Welcome aboard, Captain. I want you on the team. I need you on the team. I need you also in the interrogation room."

Gates said, "Thank you. It may surprise you, Detective, but I'm looking forward to working with your team."

"Thank you, sir. I wonder how Castle's coming with getting some contractors in here to fix the place so the rain stays out. I wonder if he's considered the advantages of bullet-proof glass?" She paused and then said, "Captain, can we have those files? I want to start by making copies, going through them and updating the board. I'm going to need to have Castle show me how that thing works."

Gates nodded, turned and left to go get her briefcase out of her car.

Castle came in and said, "Contractor's all arranged. He grumbled about me calling so early, but for the premium I offered him, he's willing to do about anything. I told him to make the window bullet proof, do whatever is required to get it that way by dark tonight. And make it so it matches the building outside when he's done. He has agreed. He has also agreed he can do most of the work from the street with a skeleton crew inside. He needs access by ten AM so the CIS's need to be done by then."

Kate said, "Excellent. Now I need another favor from you; would you call a gun dealer and get yourself four Glock 19s, Generation 3 models if they have them, two generation four Glock thirty fours, and a couple of Mossberg SA20 Tactical shotguns. Have the dealer with the FFL bring them here, Gates will sign the paperwork. Have him bring a couple hundred rounds of Hornady Critical Duty ammo for the Glocks, and a hundred rounds of Federal Premium Defense two-and-three-quarter inch number 2 buck shells for the shotguns. I also want StreamLight TLR2 lights with lasers for the Glock thirty fours. If you have any questions, just put me on the phone with him so I can make sure he gets it right the first time."

Castle looked stunned, then grinned and said, "Roger that. I'll have them bring a small fingerprint operated gun safe for each bedroom and a suitable safe to keep the shotguns in once we've taken the bad guy down. I realize they will be in drawers or holsters for now. Can I get holsters too? Please?"

"Yes, Rick, holsters too."

"I'll call right now."

"You know who to call?"

"I know guy that knows-"

He was looking as excited as a kid at Christmas when Kate interrupted him and said, "Okay, make the call. Get a time of arrival so Gates can be here to sign the paperwork. Have him bring a good cleaning kit for whatever you buy. And an absorbent bench mat to work over while we clean them. They will need to be disassembled, wiped down, patches put through the bore, and the magazines loaded. I'll have Espo test fire them at the Department range as due diligence, but I trust Generation 3 Glocks to work right out of the box."

Ryan arrived first. He called Kate from the entrance to the building before heading up. Kate knew he was going to be really nervous and wanted to put him at ease so she said to the others, "When Kevin gets up here, I want to talk to him first."

Just then she heard a knock on the door. She checked, and sure enough, she could see Ryan on the other side. She pulled the door open, and there he was. He hesitated, unsure of what was going to happen next, but at the same time, he looked a bit angry.

**AN: Please click the blue button and let me know what you think. What you liked? What you think was missing? What you speculate will happen? What you would have liked more of? By the end of this chapter we aren't even to eight o'clock in the morning yet. Feedback, it's how a writer learns.**


	4. Chapter 4 Rebuilding the Team

**AN: Still not even noon on the first day. So much going on. And you know the bad guys aren't sitting on their hands either. Again many thanks to Patricia Louise and Gwynne for their patient mentoring.**

**I own nothing. I am a huge fan of Marlow and company. Just filling the summer void by playing with their marvelous characters and counting the days till the season 5 premiere.**

**Chapter 4, Re-building the Team. **

Kate stepped forward and, before Ryan could object, give him a quick hug, stepped back and said, "Thank you for saving my life. I owe you more than I can ever repay."

Ryan looked at her and said, "I've lost count of how many times you have saved mine. But you are welcome just the same."

Kate saw him relax a little but not as much as she expected. Kate made room for him to enter, closed and locked the door behind him. He'd been here before of course, but those were much happier occasions.

She said, "We need to talk, but first you need to see Gates and Jordon Shaw."

"Agent Shaw is here?"

"Yup, this became a Federal Case."

"Why?"

"They will tell you all about it, and then I'll have Castle talk you and Javi through his theory of the case - Kevin, it's a good theory. Even Shaw thinks it has merit."

Ryan, who took after Castle in a way said, "We are a mess, Beckett, the four of us … Javi and I ... Beckett, he's so angry with me I don't think he can look at me without punching me out - I mean he is _really_ pissed that I went to Gates. I'm not sure how this will work."

"Are you angry with him?"

"Me? Angry with Espo? No. I see exactly why he did what he did. He had no choice. You were going no matter what; he couldn't let you go alone and live with you being killed. The person I'm upset with is you. You went off the deep end and put us all in danger. You knew it was wrong, and you did it anyway. How can I trust you to not do it again?"

Of course he was angry. She should have figured that out before he even got here. She looked right at him and said, with her feelings all out in the open, "I'm sorry Kevin. I'm so sorry. I know it was wrong. I don't know how I can make it up to you and Jenny, so all I can ask is for your forgiveness. I have no right to ask. But I need your help with this on whatever terms you want."

Kate saw Ryan look at her with astonishment and confusion all over his face. Working together as closely as they had for the last five years, she could almost read his thoughts. She could almost hear him think _the Beckett I knew would never have exposed herself like that, been vulnerable like that. _Then the confusion went away, and he asked a question that surprised her with its directness, "You came to terms with it, with your mother's murder, and finally admitted to yourself you are in love with Castle, didn't you?"

Kate replied quietly, "Yes. I did. Both."

"You are beyond the blind revenge and ready to go at this guy as the totally awesome Detective Beckett I've come to know and admire?"

Kate was humbled; he'd trusted her and she let him down; she'd let everybody down, but she wouldn't do that again, and somehow, he knew that. To Kevin she said, "Yes. I will go after this guy objectively, relentlessly, with all the skills and insight that our team can bring to the chase till he's brought to justice. But give me a chance when this is over and I'll dance on his grave."

Kevin said, "Good enough for me, Castle can hire the band. We're good, Detective. Now, I just need to make peace with Espo. He's the best partner I've ever worked with. I felt like crap going behind his back, but I had to do it."

"I know you did. I'm glad you did. I'll talk to him before he sees you. I already told him we were going to be working as a team on this, and he agreed to come in. He had that tone I know you would recognize; his Special Forces attitude spilled out of the cell phone and piled up on the floor, but it is also what compels him to come in here and give it his best effort. If you were in trouble, he'd save you first and then punch you out."

"I know, but I'm not looking forward to the punching part."

"It won't come to that. I know you stopped by on the way here. What does my apartment look like?"

"Jezzus, Beckett, be very glad you were not there. Your bedroom is shot to pieces. There must be at least 75 bullet holes in your bed and the headboard. I think they confused the pillows you had on it for you in the dark. They were 9mm 147 grain hollow points, we retrieved some. Plated bullets, not jacketed. Definitely reloads. I think it was two guys each with a silenced MP5 or something equivalent. Could have been Glock 18's but they are harder to get than MP5's. MP5's can be home made from flat stampings. All those shots and nobody heard anything. The penetration and lack of expansion on the bullets would confirm they were subsonic rounds - don't have a ballistics report yet, of course, but that's what I took away from it. When they didn't get you, they apparently tore the place apart looking for clues to where you might be. They hit your apartment and Castle's within a couple of minutes of each other, so they were planned as simultaneous attacks. This is more than one perp. In fact it's at least three. With lookout men, I think we're looking for two teams of at least three guys."

"I didn't know the timing."

"You need to go into witness protection till these guys are taken down. All of you - you, your Dad, Castle, his daughter, his mom. And I'm worried about Jenny and Lanie. I called in, asked for someone to cover them and found out Gates had already done that. I need to thank her for that. These guys are not like anybody we've been after before. Beckett, I had no idea the stress you have lived under since you were shot till a couple of hours ago. And I haven't even been shot. I don't know how you have managed to stay sane for the last nine months. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine as of last night. Is the apartment secure? Did they break down the door?"

"No, that's another scary part; they picked both of those dimple key VSR locks of yours, apparently silently enough that they expected you to be still asleep when they got in. Those are not easy to pick. I don't think I could do it. I know you bought them because almost nobody can pick them, and they not only did, they made it look easy. They clearly made a silent enough entry that they expected to catch you asleep. These guys are seriously good, Beckett; there are a lot of them. This guy's got a small army; they are after you and Castle with a full court press, and I'm pretty sure they have eyes on the inside."

"I know. Jordon is mobilizing a bunch of US Marshall's who have never worked east of the Mississippi to be our protection detail. It's also why the investigation will be run out of here, the loft. We have to keep the mole, or moles, could be more than one, away from our data. You go into the living room. I'm going to wait here to intercept Javi before he gets to the rest of you."

"Okay. Who's in there?"

"Gates, Shaw, and Castle."

"Okay, I should be as good with Gates as anyone ever is; no problem with Castle or Shaw. I'm feeling braver, for the moment," he said with a tiny bit of grin showing.

Kate was really glad to see his Irish humor trying to escape. _Kevin was going to be okay,_ she thought. _Now she just had to get Esposito talked down off the top of his righteous indignation and back to working with the team. Well, talked down to civility and not punching out Ryan would be a good start._

Gates poked her head around the corner and said, "I just got a call from the officers at the door. Esposito is on his way up."

"Thanks," she answered.

Gates said, "Detective Ryan, how about you come with me?" Ryan walked around the corner to follow Gates.

_Oh boy, here we go,_ Kate thought. She didn't have long to wait before footsteps approached the front door.

Kate looked out the peephole, saw Javi approaching the door and opened it before he could knock. He looked at her hard, up and down, and with an expression of intense relief, opened his arms to give her a quick hug which made her flinch. He jerked back, and she said, "I'm a little, okay a lot, bruised, pretty much all over but no bullet holes."

"You were lucky." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Sometimes PTSD is useful."

"Not often, but if that was what got you out of the line of fire quickly enough, I'll take it. I'm glad to see you in one piece, Castle OK?"

"Yes, I rolled us both onto the floor while they were still breaking glass with rounds of slow fire, probably a bolt action rifle with full metal jacket ammo. We were against the wall when the submachine guns opened up."

"Submachine guns?"

"Yeah, we think it had to be at least two. I don't have a round count, but the bed and opposite wall were chewed to pieces."

"I heard that's what they did to your apartment, too."

"Yes, they clearly did not know I was here. Ryan thinks it was two shooters with silenced MP5s or something similar. He estimates there were over 70 rounds into my bed. The rounds were subsonic, 147 grain bullets. Nobody heard anything. They picked the locks."

"They picked your dimple key locks?"

"Not only that, they apparently did it quietly enough that they expected me to still be asleep. We are up against the best of the best, Javi. These guys are well trained, mercenaries, ex-Special Ops, Delta Force, Seals, that level."

"Maddox was pretty good; you said he handled you and smiled while he was doing it. Took me down before the fight even started. You said Castle has a theory?"

"He does, but before we get into that, you, Ryan, Castle and myself need to have a talk."

"Ryan? I want to punch his lights out."

"Javi," she said quietly, "I know you are upset, but I'm alive because he got to Gates and grabbed me just as my grip let go. If he had been even a quarter of a second later, I'd be a bug splat on the concrete in that alley. I can't be pissed that I'm still alive."

"And Castle after he left?"

"He was right, Javi. Ryan was right. I should have gotten backup and let someone else take him down. As it was, I went off halfcocked, put your life at risk, and he not only got away, he killed the guy that kept me safe."

"Kept you safe? Who kept you safe?"

"One of the deputy police commissioners, Getz, had files that contained new evidence about the conspiracy to cover up Areman's killing. They point to the man we call The Dragon as the guy behind it all. Based on what Castle told me, Getz used the threat of releasing this information to blackmail them into leaving me alone. But the deal depended on me not reopening my mother's murder investigation."

"So why did you investigate?"

"I didn't know about the deal. Castle did, he's the one that got me to back off when I first returned from medical. He knew I'd run right at the guy and get myself killed. I proved him right about the run straight at him part when I ran after Maddox."

"How did Castle know about this guy?"

"The guy called him shortly after I went off on the Arson Investigator that I'm absolutely convinced falsified his report."

"So why did Castle leave?"

"He's in love with me, Javi-"

"Hell, there's no news in that. He's been in love with you for what, at least two years near as Lanie and I can tell."

"I know that now. I'm in love with him. We had an awful argument yesterday - he wanted me to stop, to step back from the investigation, go to Gates and get someone else to lead it. I was so consumed with it, and so angry with him for the choice he took away from me when he kept Mr. Smith a secret, that I disregarded both he and Kevin, who gave me the same advice. He said he couldn't watch me get killed again, that we were over; that he was done, and he left."

"You blame him?"

"No. I don't. I came back to him last night begging forgiveness for being so awful toward him. He took me back. Javi, I'm his forever, come hell or high water."

"About damn time. So what's the plan?"

"Jordon Shaw is here. She's in charge of the investigation, but she has offered me a blank check to lead it. She wants' you, Ryan, and Castle on the team. So does Gates."

"Can you handle that? Are you going to blow up on the launch pad again?"

"No, Javi, I'm not. I've let it go. I am focused on bringing who ever Mr. Big is down but not invested in it like I was. I can lead this objectively, and I have a better feel for it than anyone else on the planet except Castle. But, like I told Ryan, given a chance, I'll dance on his grave."

"Castle?"

"We talked. I didn't agree to do this until after we had talked it through. He's in, all the way."

"Good. We need him, Beckett. He keeps our minds open."

"He does that. Javi, he has pretty much figured out the profile of the guy we are after. It limits the number of suspects, and gives us a bunch of places to look. We won't know if he's right till we get into it, but it's the best place to start from we've ever had. That and maybe they left some evidence behind when they made the two attacks this morning."

"We have a preliminary report from whoever is assigned to the shootings from the NYPD?"

"Not yet. I'm hoping for one fairly soon."

"So how are we going to set this up?"

That was the question Kate wanted to hear. Javi was in. She still had some team building to do, but Javi was in. She replied, "Shaw wants to make the command center for the investigation here in the loft. Castle and I won't leave till we've got the Dragon and his henchmen behind bars. She has an army of Federal Marshals coming to be the security guards."

"So when do we get started?"

"Right after you, Castle, Ryan, and I have a little team building session. You want in?"

"Oh hell yes. Uraugh, Detective!"

"Okay, go into Castle's office; we'll meet you there."

Kate was very relieved that Javi's somewhat explosive temper was apparently under control, but she would still try to keep Castle's desk between him and Ryan until it was clear they were back. She headed for the living room, found them all gathered around the kitchen counter where Castle was making some breakfast. Nobody wanted much, but he'd assembled a huge pile of scrambled eggs, some toast, and brewed another pot of coffee.

Rick said, "I was just about to call you. You hungry?"

"Famished, but let me take Ryan to the office so he and Javi can make peace. Okay?"

"Okay, but don't let the eggs get cold."

"Ryan?" Kate said nodding toward the office.

Gates took a step but Kate stopped her saying, "I've got this. These are my guys. We are a team. We'll work it, or not, but an outsider isn't going to help right now. Sorry, but for now that's how it is."

Gates stopped, pursed her lips, looked like she would say something, but she just looked at Shaw, who nodded, and with a sigh let it go. "Okay," she said quietly.

Ryan started towards the door with something less than total joy on his face. Kate saw the look and said, "Javi wants to make peace, he just may have trouble doing it. Take away his excuses to keep it going and we'll be okay." Kevin looked skeptical, but nodded.

Kate led the way into the office. Esposito was on the other side of the desk looking at the activated murder board with the conspiracy timeline still up on it. He turned around and an array of emotions flickered across his face. Kate looked back to see the same thing on Kevin's face.

Neither spoke. Kate knew enough to say nothing. This was their party; they had to want this or it wasn't going to happen.

They both started to speak at the same time, stopped. Kate pointed to Esposito who said, "You were right. We should have gotten backup and gone 'bout this the right way. I know that. But I couldn't let her go in there alone, and she was going no matter what. You know that, so does she."

Ryan hesitated for a split second to be sure he was done and then said, "I know. And I should have been with you, but I just couldn't let you two go there without proper backup, and I wasn't it. I wasn't enough. I had to go to Gates. I'd do it again."

Kate said, "Guys, this is entirely my fault. And you know it. Don't blame each other for doing what you thought was the right thing to do. I put you in that position with my mindless blind passion and lack of professionalism. I apologize to both of you for putting my personal vendetta ahead of your safety. I know what I did; I won't do it again. I'm over that part. I just want to nail this guy to the wall with an airtight case, proper warrants, everything right. I really want you guys with me when we take him down. You in?"

Esposito said, "Yes. I'm in. I'm still feeling it a little, but it will dissipate. Taking this guy down so it sticks will take care of most of that."

Ryan said, "I'm in."

Kate said, "Shake on it?" They did.

After which Kate said, "Castle has some breakfast for us, then we can get started."

She led them to the kitchen to be greeted by Gates and Shaw who look a little surprised to see Ryan and Esposito within arm's reach and not throwing punches.

Castle said, "Kate, there are plates, etc. The contractor is on the way up here with a bunch of guys. I need to turn off the murder board so they can work. I'll get them started, and then we can move it out there and get set up. Oh, and the gun store guy wants you to give him a call. He said he needs some sort of official word this is a kosher deal. He doesn't want to lose his license."

Shaw said, "Give me the number. I'll call him. Kate, give me your shopping list."

Kate said, "four Glock nineteen's with four extra fifteen round magazines each, four Mossberg SA20 tactical models, four StreamLight LED rail lights with laser to fit the Glocks, two generation four Glock thirty fours, four hundred rounds of Hornady Critical Duty ammunition, 100 rounds of two and three quarter inch Federal Premium number two buckshot for the twenties, 4 OWB and 2 IWB holsters for the Glocks. Cleaning equipment to match the guns. Patch out bore cleaner and BoreTech copper remover, 2 cans of Birchwood Casey GunScrubber, small bottle of gun oil, bag of patches, cleaning mat, and some jags."

Shaw noted it down, showed the list to Kate, she nodded.

Javi said, "You going to war with untested guns?"

"Nope, you and Ryan are going to take them to the police range and put 5 rounds from every magazine through them - use the FMJ training ammo from the department. You'll okay the ammo, Captain?"

"Definitely," Gates answered.

Castle disappeared to deal with the contractor.

Shaw said, "Okay, I need to go make some calls. I know they have Alexis, Jenny, Lanie, and Jim located with Marshals on the way. I need to make sure it's all going smoothly. I wonder if they have my Murder Board on the way, and I also want a status on the Federal Marshals that are flying in. I'd like to have them on station by noon or shortly after, and it's already eight o'clock."

Kate looked at the other two and said, "Let's eat, then we'll make copies of the files from Getz and see what we can learn."

Esposito reached for a plate …

###

They ate some eggs and toast. Kate looked through the refrigerator and came up with some orange marmalade and strawberry jam. She hadn't realized how hungry she was till she started eating. They had about finished when her cell phone rang. She saw a picture of Alexis when she looked at it.

Kate answered it. Her first words were, "Everybody here is okay. Your dad is okay." There was a pause, apparently that had helped a little, she heard Alexis take a breath.

Then it all came out in a rush, "Detective Beckett, what is going on? I'm at my friend Megan's house; there are two Federal Marshals here saying they were sent by an FBI agent, a Jordon Shaw. That they are here to protect me. When I asked them 'from what,' they said turn on the news and there's dad's loft, where I live, with police cars all around it, yellow tape, talking heads saying somebody climbed on the adjacent roof and there was machine gun fire into Dad's bedroom-"

"Alexis, stop for a second, you are going to drive yourself nuts. Give me a chance to explain."

"I tried to call dad; he's on his phone and doesn't transfer to me, and I don't know if he's really-"

"Alexis! Stop!" she said sharply. "Everybody here is unhurt. Your dad is making arrangements to get the windows fixed and the bedroom patched back together enough to be lived in again."

"Were you there?"

"Yes. Your dad and I were together. Now please, let the two Federal Marshals escort you home to the loft. Your dad will explain everything in infinite detail when you get here. Please?"

"Why were you there?"

"Because I'm in love with your dad. Now come home and let us explain."

"Detective Beckett-"

Kate broke the connection which wasn't going to help, but it would get the discussion moved here where her dad could participate.

She had no sooner hung up than her phone rang again, this time Martha's picture appeared. She answered it saying, "Martha, everybody here is fine. No one is injured."

"Kate, dear girl, what happened? I have two very serious looking Federal Marshals here. I'm looking at the news, and there are police cars all around the loft; the street is blocked off. The talking heads are saying Novelist Richard Castle's loft was machine gunned from an adjacent roof top, that his bedroom window, bed, and bedroom were all shot to pieces. On another channel they are talking about your apartment being shot to pieces."

"That's true."

"Then how can he be okay? How can you be talking to me?"

"Martha, I was not in my apartment when it was attacked. I was in the loft in bed with Rick when the first shot exploded the bedroom window into the drapes. I reacted without thinking, rolled him out of bed and dragged him to the corner where the bricks on the outside of the building kept us safe. We are fine."

"You were in bed with him?"

"Yes. We finally managed to communicate; I got over my problems and came to him. You can have the full story later. Bottom line, I came here begging him to take me back, and God bless him, he did. We know we only want to be with each other. I hope you are okay with that because I'm not going anyplace no matter what."

"Okay with it? Dear girl, I think it's about dammed time the two of you came to your senses. I've been after him for two years to kiss you before your lips were too old to pucker. I'm good. Be prepared, I'm going to give you a big hug when I see you."

"Gentle hug, please, I'm rather badly bruised."

"How did that happen?"

"Bad guy did it. Story for another day. Please make the Marshals at home. They are your new best friends. FBI Agent Jordon Shaw, the one Rick and I worked with when my apartment was blown up, is here. She arranged for the Marshals. Right now it's better if you are right where you are. Please follow the Marshals lead; they are experts at protecting people. Rick should be off the phone soon. He's had to make some arrangements."

"Is Alexis okay?"

"Yes, she called; she has two marshals with her. She's mortified that her dad and I were in bed together. I'm not so sure she is comfortable with the whole idea of me being with him. But when she gets here, we will have a talk. She and her dad can talk first."

"She'll be okay with it. Just give her time. Her life was in upheaval already with high school graduation, college, the whole nine yards. All you need to get her blessing is for her to realize you really are in it for good and won't hurt her dad anymore."

The "anymore," in that sentence was like a knife through her heart. She said, "Martha, I'm so sorry; I told Rick I was so sorry. I was awful to him, but I didn't do it to be evil; I was just trying to survive."

"Kate, I'm all for you two being together. If you were there, there could only be one reason, and you have too much personal integrity to lie to yourself or him about it. I'm certain he's your one-and-done."

"Yes, he is. Thanks. Martha, I've got to go. Rick will call you in a few minutes."

"Okay, bye."

The call ended; Kate was about to look for Rick when he appeared in front of her. He said, "I was on the phone canceling a meeting at Black Pawn, which wasn't going well. They are practically hysterical about the news reports. I saw Alexis and Mom try to call, but before I could get to them, they hung up. Did they call you?"

"Both of them did. Alexis gave me the third degree. Two Federal Marshals showed up at her friend Megan's to take her into protective custody. She's on her way here with them. I told her we were in the bed together. I think she was mortified and is feeling more than a little angry at me right now. I had to cut her off and get her to come here before she spiraled herself into full blown panic. So I hung up. I think you should let her get here and talk to her in person, but I have no say in that. She's your wonderful daughter - I hope she can forgive me for all the violence I've brought into your lives. I'm not going anyplace, but it would be nicer if she wanted me here at least enough to tolerate me."

"She will come around, Kate. She's just in turmoil right now, and her anchor, me, is also changing. She doesn't have any place solid. I want us to be that for her. She'll see, that but it will take time. She just has to believe we are as in love, as committed to the future together as we know we are, and it will be okay.

Kate took a step towards him; he moved to meet her, and they slid into a natural hug like they'd been hugging for years instead of less than 12 hours. He was very gentle, kissed her on the head. She turned her head up for a kiss, and then eased away, "I want more of that. But next time let's try it without the machine guns."

Kate watched him. Castle's face showed he clearly got the intended association with when she'd said _next time let's try it without the tiger._

"Oh yes, definitely let's try it again without the machine guns. No tigers either." He grinned with that boyish charm that made him so hard to resist.

Kate just gave him that enigmatic look that drove him crazy and said, "You need to call your mom. She's calmed down and on our side."

"Oh yeah. We are talking about Martha Rogers here. She's nothing if not a dramatic romantic."

"Please call her?"

"I will."

"Then we need to make some copies of the files from Gates." She stepped real close to him and whispered in his ear, "Keep your copy secret for now, please?"

He looked at her and said very low so only she could hear, "Right. Got it."

"When we don't have an audience, even if we have to lock ourselves in the bedroom to do it, I want to compare in detail the two sets of files to make sure they are identical."

"Roger that," Castle replied adding, "The safe is hidden in the bedroom, so that's not a bad idea."

Kate thought for a moment and said, "Rick, Alexis isn't going to be able to work as Lanie's intern while this investigation is going on. She's way too good a hostage candidate - in fact probably the best hostage candidate on the planet at the moment. How would you feel about having her work with us, here?" "She saw his face cloud as he opened his mouth to answer. "Wait," she said softly. "Please hear me out, Rick." He nodded. "She's smart," Kate continued, "She's already seen more of violence and that side of life working with Lanie than ninety nine point nine percent of the population will ever see. Further, on more than one occasion she has been the inspiration that triggered your thoughts leading to a successful investigation. We need that; we need all the out of the box thinking we can get, and she's one of the best sources I know of. Okay, your turn." She nodded at Rick.

He said, "If she is willing. But, we have to let her all the way in. She can do some things for us like make copies, too, but she is allowed to hear it all and to say what she thinks. We treat her as a peer. Otherwise, she will get turned off almost instantly."

"I'm good with that. We'll present it to Shaw and Gates after Shaw has had a chance to meet Alexis. I think they will like each other a lot, anyway."

Rick said, "Shake on it?"

"No, I'd rather kiss on it," and she stepped into his arms, not caring who saw them kissing.

**AN: Please click the blue button and let me know what you think. I'm trying to learn and your feedback is my best source. What did you like? What would you like to see? What might be done differently? **


	5. Chapter 5 Alexis Makes Three

**AN: For those who have been worried about Alexis, read on. **

**I own nothing. The characters from the TV Series Castle are the property of those who own the show. Mr. Marlow and company created marvelous characters. I just like to play with them now and then.**

**Chapter 5 – Alexis Makes Three**

Castle disappeared upstairs.

Gates arrived with the envelope full of files. It looked like it might be a little thinner than the one Castle has received earlier, but Beckett said nothing. She just motioned towards the office and headed that way because that's where the copy machine was. It was a higher end black and white machine for home use, not exactly what one would find in an industrial office, but more than enough for what they would need.

She said to Gates, "How about we divide and conquer? I'll take pictures of the photos with my phone and have Castle upload them to his computer so they can be added to the murder board. They can also be uploaded to the FBI board when it gets here. If you feed the stuff into the copier, I'll take the output and collate it into piles to make complete sets. How many sets do you think we need?"

Gates thought a minute and said, "How about a dozen? We should number them so we'll know if one goes missing."

"That sounds good. I like the numbering idea. All pages, and we count the pages?"

"Definitely."

They started to sort it into piles when Kate spotted the photograph of the arson investigator. She said out loud, "I knew that guy was lying. He falsified the report."

Gates said, "What? Who falsified what?"

"Rod Halstead, the guy in this picture is the arson investigator that reported the fire that destroyed the Raglan McAllister money trail files as an accident. It was my going off on him because I could tell he was lying that caused Mr. Smith to call Castle the first time. I was right. And look, here are two copies of the report, the original, and the modified one. Both are signed. If we can get to this guy before he is killed to cover the trail and get him to talk, we have chance to get something useful."

"How do we do that?"

"How about we have Shaw use this to get a warrant and take him to the safe house? He can cool his heels till we get set up to interrogate him. The way this Dragon works, the investigator is a dead man walking if he thinks we have the files."

Kate hollered, "Jordon! Where are you? We need you in the office!"

Jordon showed up in the door and said calmly, "What's so urgent?"

Kate replied, "Oh. Sorry. You were closer than I thought. Remember Castle told us about the fire that burned the bank records?"

"Yes, they were records that had to do with Raglan and McAllister's ransom money, and maybe its transfer to the Unsub."

"Castle and I were right; the arson investigator's report was falsified. There are two signed copies here: one of them says arson, and the other says accident. The one filed officially was accident. This guy was somehow paid off to falsify the report. But he's a dead man walking if the Dragon knows we have the files. Can you get him picked up on a warrant - is this enough evidence? If so, time is of the essence because I don't think he has 24 hours to live."

"Give me a copy of both versions and let me take a picture of the originals and the guy's picture. I'll see what I can do. I have an Agent coming in here in a few minutes to set up our murder board. I'll send him back out to do the warrant. I need to pick a judge. I'll take the pictures right now, be back in a few."

She snapped pictures of the two documents and the investigator's picture and was busy with the buttons on her phone as she walked away.

Just then Kate heard the front door being unlocked. She assumed that had to be Alexis because Martha was still in the Hamptons and Rick was upstairs. "That may be Alexis," she told Gates. "I need to talk with her before she comes unglued."

Gates said, "Go, I've got this."

Kate arrived at the front door just as it opened to reveal Alexis with two Federal Marshals. One faced back toward the elevator; the other was between Alexis and the door. They had placed their bodies between their young subject and any avenue of attack. Kate approved. "I'm Marshal Wilson," said the solid, square-set man facing Kate. "Who are you?"

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett," she said and held up her badge.

"We were instructed that you or Richard Castle could take charge of Alexis Castle once she was here."

"She lives here; her Dad is upstairs. Please let her come in. Alexis?"

The Marshal's grim expression softened. "Here's my card," he said, "and a copy of the protection order to escort her. Miss Castle is not to leave here," he turned to Alexis and raised a strictly forbidding hand, "unescorted by a Federal Marshal until we get further orders."

"I understand."

"Okay, young lady, you may enter." He gave her a quick smile, the first she had seen.

Alexis looked at him and said, "Marshal Wilson, thank you for the safe trip. I noticed how hard you and Marshal Zher worked to keep me safe, and I appreciate it, like standing the way you are now."

Marshal Wilson looked surprised and said, "How do you know to notice those things?"

"I read dad's research for the Derrick Storm novels."

"I see. Thank you. Please make sure you call us. From what we heard, the people after your Dad and Detective Beckett are not people to be taken lightly."

Alexis said, "I saw Detective Beckett get shot by a sniper. Trust me on this; I'm not leaving here till they are caught no matter how good the sales are."

The Marshal chuckled and said, "See you later. Detective." He nodded at Beckett and backed up a step or two, not leaving till the door closed. Beckett noted approvingly that Marshal Zher never turned around or took his eyes off the hallway during the whole exchange. _These guys are really good,_ she thought.

Alexis's face changed radically after her exchange with the Marshal as she looked at Kate. Kate stood back to let the door close. After she closed and locked the door, Alexis turned to face Kate who was still between her and the apartment, and said with some hostility, "Why are you here?"

Kate said very quietly, but with confidence, "I'm here because I'm in love with your Dad, and I plan to spend the rest of my life with him."

"How did that happen? Last I heard you were over. He's gone through an awful year since you were shot. He's been played like a caught fish and thrown into the disposal. I do not want to see him in any more pain, or lying on a stainless table in Lanie's morgue because of you."

Kate knew she had it all coming, not because she intended to torture the man but because of her own short comings. She also knew that this incredibly bright and perceptive young woman would settle for nothing less than the whole truth. She said, "Alexis, I will tell you everything, all of it, every painful detail of what has happened to me over the last year. Please agree to listen to it before you judge me."

"My room," Alexis said with some intensity. "Now."

Kate turned and headed in that direction with no further comment. When she got to the room, she let Alexis past her to open the door, waited till she motioned her in, went in and stood waiting. Alexis said, "Please sit down on the bed, I'll sit over here." Kate did as she asked. She also noted that Alexis sat as far away from her as she could and still be in the room.

Alexis said, "I'm listening." Her voice was not exactly neutral.

Kate said, "This will take a while but it will be better if you just let me get through it all first, then ask questions. This is going to be hard for me, and I may jumble it up a little." Alexis nodded.

"After I was shot, your dad was down by me giving me support almost before I hit the ground. He told me to stay with him, and then he said, 'I love you. I love you Kate.' I heard it clearly. Knowing that was what kept me alive. I held onto it with the mental equivalent of white knuckles during the ambulance ride. I saw him looking at me during the ride, and then things went black. They came back, but the pain was blinding, and I had tubes in my throat. I went black again. Next thing I remember is waking up in recovery feeling like I'd been run over by a truck." She paused and took a deep breath.

"I was an emotional wreck. I was totaled. My self-confidence was shattered; I'd almost gotten your Dad shot. I know he'd have jumped in front of that bullet if he could. I had a death threat hanging over my head. As far as I was concerned they were going to try again and again and again till they succeeded. The fear and uncertainty were paralyzing. I hid in the woods at my Dad's cabin trying to glue myself back together. Every glint of light off a drop of dew looked like the reflection off a rifle scope. Every sound was 'them' coming for me. But I got through it." Her eyes closed reliving it. She shook her head and continued, "I couldn't call him. I was too broken to return his love like he deserved and like I wanted to. Alexis, I loved him with all my heart, but I couldn't tell him, I was too broken to live up to that declaration."

Kate saw Alexis take a breath as if to speak and said quietly, "Please, let me continue." Alexis nodded, so Kate continued, "I went to therapy twice a week from then till day before yesterday which was my most recent session. I have worked hard to rebuild myself; to recover from what my therapist said was a completely disabling case of PTSD. Rick saw it and couldn't help me, but Javi, who has been through it, could, and Rick got him to help me. I told your dad I had this wall inside me that I needed to break down before I could be who I wanted to be, before I could be free to be more than I was before. I wanted to be more than just a cop driven to solve her Mother's murder. I wanted to be loved, to be whole, to have a husband and family and a life beyond the badge, morgues, and wondering why I was still alive. Every minute of every day since I regained consciousness in the recovery room I've expected they might try again. I waited from second to second for the big shoe to drop, the final pain in my chest. Every sound, every reflection might be it. It's an awful thing to know some powerful person who can hire highly trained ex-military and mercenary killers wants you dead. To know they have what it takes to end your existence in any given minute, and not be able to do anything about it."

The expression in Alexis' eyes had softened slightly, but Kate didn't want her pity. She wanted Alexis to understand; she wanted her to believe it completely when she told her she loved her Dad.

She continued, "Alexis, your Dad stood by me through all of this. We each had a secret. I knew he'd said he loved me. I knew without a doubt that he loved me. It showed every day in hundreds of things he did. How he had my back in so many ways. He also had a secret. He knew why I wasn't dead."

Alexis gasped and her mouth opened, Kate shook her head and said, "He was trying to protect me. We found out a warehouse that had records important to the case had burned down two weeks after my Mother was murdered. We were sure that wasn't a coincidence. When we got the arson investigator's report, he said it was a circuit breaker failure, one in a million, but not arson." She paused reliving the next part then said, "When Castle and I went to see him, he denied falsifying the report. He denied that anybody had offered him anything to change it, that it had ever been changed, and that the fire was anything but an accident."

"That evening your Dad got a call from a man who called himself Mr. Smith. He claimed to be a friend of Captain Montgomery's. He said Montgomery had mailed him some files that would cause people to become suspicious and begin to investigate the man we call The Dragon. That Montgomery had made a deal with the Dragon to keep his family and Beckett safe or the files would be given to people who could use them to bring the Dragon down. The Dragon had one demand in return; it was that I must stop investigating my Mother's death. If I kept on investigating, the deal was off, and they would kill me."

Alexis asked. "Then why were you shot?"

"Because the Dragon thought the files were still in Montgomery's safe. He didn't know Mr. Smith had them. Smith let them know, and they backed off. I should have been dead but wasn't, so he continued the same blackmail deal to keep me alive that Montgomery had been using." Alexis nodded.

Kate continued, "So your Dad came to me and said I had to stop but made it sound like it was because I wasn't strong enough yet. He said, we'd go after them, just not today. He was very persuasive. I agreed. But I didn't know why I was not dead, why they didn't try again, and I was living with that almost paralyzing fear every single day. Every time I stepped outside I expected to die. But the blackmail deal kept me alive."

"What happened to change that?" Alexis asked.

"A burglar who broke into Captain Montgomery's house was shot by Montgomery's wife. He was wounded but not fatally, at least not if he had gotten medical treatment. He only stole files from Montgomery's safe. The person that he delivered them to killed him but left DNA samples. We matched them to the DNA from the sniper rifle that shot me. I thought I had a chance to nail the SOB, and went after him. In a rage. I didn't follow proper police procedure. We located where he lived."

She stopped and her eyes filled with tears that ran down her face. She held up a finger, silently asking for a minute, got her emotions under some sort of control and said, "Your Dad came to me. He told me again he loved me. That he knew I knew, that he knew I remembered everything because he overheard me say that to a guy I was interrogating. He told me again, and I believed him. He told me about the blackmail deal. Then he asked me to stop, to let someone else do this, to back off. He was trying to save my life. He put it all out there, Alexis. He laid his heart and soul on the table, and I crushed it by saying no. I was irrationally angry with him for trying to save my life, to keep me safe without my consent. I told him it was my life. Not his. My life. He realized he couldn't stop me. He didn't want to watch me be killed … again. He said we were over, and he left. I didn't want him to leave; he took my heart with him, but I couldn't give up on trying to find the person that ordered my mother's murder, and the man that shot me. It was an overriding blind rage, and I couldn't stop it.

"Detective Ryan tried to make me stop, tried to make me call backup, and I refused. Esposito knew I'd go alone if I had to, so he came with me. We found Cole Maddox's apartment and went in. Maddox was way more than we bargained for. He took out Esposito with one blow, and then he ran to the roof. I chased him. We fought. He beat the crap out of me." Alexis looked suspicious. Kate didn't hesitate; she stood, pulled her shirt up as far as she could raise her arms, stood, and slowly turned around."

Alexis said, "Oh my God, Detective Beckett, you need a doctor."

Kate quickly said, "No, I don't. But that wasn't the worst of it. He didn't even react when I hit him. I got in strikes that should have disabled him, put him on the ground or in the morgue, and he didn't even flinch. He just smiled at me like he was having fun. He threw me down several times and then threw me off the building. I managed to grab a small ledge and was left hanging about five stories above a concrete alley. My shoulders were damaged, I still can't put my arms up over my head, but I hung there trying not to let go."

Alexis was looking horrified.

Kate continued, "All I could only think that I was going to die and I had never told your Dad I loved him. I'd waited too long and now I had lost my chance. I kept calling his name. I hung there a few moments from death, and I told myself I'd been a fool. None of what I'd pursued with such passion was worth what I was about to lose. I lost my grip with one hand and couldn't raise it back to the ledge. I finally realized catching the man behind my Mom's murder was not worth more than the rest of my life. At that instant I heard footsteps, and just as my last hand slipped off the ledge, Detective Ryan grabbed my arm and caught me. He pulled me up."

Alexis slumped where she was sat and stared at Kate wide-eyed.

"Captain Gates was there, and she was incredibly angry with me. Justifiably so. I'd broken about every rule in the book. I'd put Esposito's and my lives at risk when I should have organized a proper takedown. I'd let the guy get away. She placed Esposito and me on administrative leave pending an investigation. She asked for our badges and guns. Javi gave her his. I put my gun on her desk and reached for my badge. I held it in my hand, looked at it. It was something I'd worked so hard for, something I'd dedicated my life to, and suddenly it wasn't me. I wanted to be more than that badge. I wanted to let myself have a chance to be what I could be instead of a slave to revenge. I wanted to be with your dad. To return his love, to be all I could be. And the wall in me just came down. I put the badge on her desk, told her to keep it, and resigned."

"You resigned? You are wearing it," her voice sounding like she had caught a lie.

"That came later, less than an hour ago. There is much more to tell you."

"Oh ... okay."

"I walked to the graveyard where my mother is buried. I stood by her headstone. It was pouring rain on everything. All I could feel was sad she was there, but the guy had gotten away and I didn't care. I had to tell her that. That he'd gone and I wasn't going after him anymore. I told her I was going after my life. There was more, but the important part is I ended up at your Dad's door. I tried to call. He didn't answer. I knocked. He finally opened the door. When he saw me he looked pained and said, 'Beckett, what do you want?' I said 'you.' And I kissed him with all the feeling I had left in my body and soul."

"What did he do?"

"At first he resisted – pushed me away. I didn't give up; I wouldn't leave. He asked me, 'What happened?' I told him the guy got away, and I didn't care. I told him I almost died and all I could think about was him. I told him I was sorry; I was so deeply, sincerely sorry – sorry for all the pain, for all the heartache. I think he finally believed me. And, Alexis, in the next moment he forgave me. He has the biggest heart on the planet. I have never felt such peace as when he told me he loved me. And I told him I loved him. I fell asleep in his arms and I was sure everything was going to be alright between us. And in spite of all that's happened, I'm still at peace with myself, and completely gone in love with your dad."

Alexis looked somewhat uncomfortable with all this. Kate had her say, now it was Alexis turn.

Alexis looked down, apparently thinking, then she looked up at Kate and said, "Thank you. That looked like it hurt, a lot. I didn't mean to hurt you, but I had to know it was real. You have convinced me. I know it is. I believe you, Detective Beckett. But I need to talk to my Dad now."

Kate took a shaky breath, nodded, afraid to trust herself to speak, and walked into the hall with Alexis behind her. Kate went downstairs.

###

Alexis went to knock on the guest room door where she heard what she thought was her Dad making noise. It was. She opened the door and found him looking under the mattress of the bed. She asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Alexis! You are home safe. Thank God."

"Two very conscientious Federal Marshals made sure of that. We need to talk."

"I can explain-"

"Detective Beckett already told me her story. We've been talking for about half an hour in my room."

"I didn't hear anything."

"We talked. Dad, she got the crap beat out of her. She has bruises on bruises and ugly places with cuts. She told me the whole story. She began with being on the ground in that graveyard with a bullet through her chest and you on your knees beside her. And she ended by being grateful for your forgiveness after she told you how sorry she was and begged for it. I believe her when she says she is completely gone in love with you."

"She told you the whole story, PTSD, everything?"

"Yes. I had no idea how much strength of character she has. I have no idea what it would take to survive the last year under the incredible stress and fear she endured. I have no idea how she didn't babble into a bottle, or blow her own brains out, or end up strung out on drugs, but she didn't. She said it was the chance of a life with you that kept her going through all that. Nobody could fake that, Dad. That is all real. She literally bared her soul to me. She left nothing out, put it all out there, pretty much like she said you did when she turned you down and went after the guy anyway."

Castle's eyes started to brim with tears and he said, "She loves me Alexis. She loves me more than I can even begin to appreciate. She went through all that hell for me, and we finally broke through all the fear and found each other before it was too late."

"Does she make you happy? Is it enough? Do you love her back?"

"Yes. Yes to all of it. I've promised myself to her and she to me. We aren't engaged yet, but without discussing, it we both know that's going to happen, and that we will be married and be together until death do us part."

"Does she want me to be a part of you?"

"I'm certain she does. More certain than I've been about anything, but she has to tell you that. She has to feel safe telling you that. Do you want to let her in-"

"Yes, dad, I do. Knowing the story, I'm so happy for you both I could cry, and I'm going to if I'm not careful."

Rick reached out, and she charged into a hug and sobbed until the front of his shirt was soaked with tears. Finally she stepped back, got her breathing under control, and said, "I don't know where all that came from, but I think it was stress relief. So much is changing in my life; I need a solid place to have at least one foot to keep my balance. I'd love for you and ... and ... Kate to be there for me." She paused and said, "Can I call her Kate? Calling her Detective Beckett at home just feels wrong given where we are."

"Let's get her up here and ask her."

"Meet in my room again?"

"Yup, be right back."

###

Rick went downstairs to find Kate and Gates working their way through reproducing the files into 12 copies. He said, "Captain Gates, I need to borrow Kate for a few minutes for a family meeting upstairs."

Gates said, "Kate told me you might be here for that. By all means. Family comes first. Oh, and I would be delighted if Alexis was willing to lend her brain to this case."

Rick said, "Uh, thanks. That might be handy to know in a few minutes."

Gates waved them away saying, "Go."

Rick took Kate's hand and as they walked to the stairs he said, "Lobbied a little did you?"

"Yes. I didn't want to make any promises I couldn't deliver on. How is she?"

"You won her over."

"That's a two way street. She's had me for a couple of years."

They came to Alexis' bedroom door, and Rick knocked softly. Alexis called from inside, "Come in."

Rick and Kate were still holding hands when they walked in. Kate saw Alexis notice it with a bit of a smile.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment or two and Rick said, "Let me begin by saying I love Kate. We are committed for as long a term as life, our genes, and the laws of chance allow us to be together. I love you, Alexis. You are always my daughter, I'm always here for you, that hasn't changed and it never will. But we, Kate and I, would very much like you to be part of us."

He paused and Kate said, "Alexis, I want to be whatever you will allow me to be for you. I am not replacing your mother, she is your mother, but I love you. I think you are a wonderful person. I would be very happy if you would let me be part of your family."

Alexis had tears running down her cheeks, dashed around the bed and almost stumbled trying not to hurt Kate, but she put her arms around her gently and hugged her. She said, "Kate, you have been more mom to me for the last three years than my biological mom has been since I was born. You've already been there, been someone I trust, someone I could talk to, someone who told me like it is. I am so glad you and Dad have found each other in the storm. I feel like I've found you too. Can we have a family hug, please? All of us?"

Rick wrapped his arms gently around both of them, kissing Alexis on the head and Kate on the lips. He said, "I love you both more than life itself. You have made me unbelievably happy."

Alexis said, "I'm so relieved I think I need to sit down. Kate ... Kate, can I call you mom? Please?"

"Yes, Alexis, I'd be both honored and I'd love that."

Then, with the resilience of youth, she asked, "So tell me, what's our status here? Are we in protective custody, what's the deal?"

Alexis looked back and forth between them, and it was clear to Kate she looked at them both not just one of them. Kate said, "We have been asked by FBI Agent Jordon Shaw, who you will meet shortly, and Captain Gates to lead the investigation into this conspiracy case. Your dad and I talked it over. He agreed. Captain Gates offered me my badge and gun back. I accepted. My Mother's murder and me getting shot are only the tip of the iceberg. They were part of an attempt to cover up what is really going on.

"I'm in a state of mind, for the first time since that night my mother was killed, to objectively take these guys on. The advantage has shifted to us. We know they are after us, but we aren't going to leave here. We have it all out in the open between the NYPD and the FBI. Captain Gates has returned my badge and gun plus we have some more guns coming, but we don't expect anything to happen here. Agent Shaw is bringing in Federal Marshals that have never worked east of the Mississippi to work our protection detail. It's what they do, and they are very good at it as you noticed.

Kate paused, looked at Rick, he nodded, and then she said, "Alexis, you can't work your internship with Lanie while this is going on. Your Dad and I have talked this over with Captain Gates, and we'd like you to join us working on the investigation. Would you be willing to do that?"

"Absolutely! I'd love to work with you guys. What can I do?"

"There may be some grunt work like making copies, but for the most part what we want is for you to take it all in and use your brain to give us views of the data we might not otherwise have. It's what your dad does so very well, as you will see shortly. Is that okay?"

"Oh yeah, uh ... how will we know where to start?"

"We'll go through the entire existing data set with you when we go through it with Detectives Ryan and Esposito, but your Dad has worked out a profile on the person we are after. He's thought about it a lot. He's added facts into his theory as they surfaced, one by one, over the last three years. My shooting just upped the intensity. Agent Shaw and I were blown away by what he came up with. It accounts for everything we know, no exceptions, and suggests a lot of places we can look for verification. It doesn't give us a name, but it gives us a good place to start, and if he is right, a very short list of possible suspects."

Alexis said, "Maybe I was wrong, Dad, maybe you are a cop."

Kate said, "He isn't a cop; he's a writer that can think like a cop, and that is an incredible combination."

Alexis looked really proud of her Dad and gave him a big hug. Then she said, "Let me get changed and freshened up. I'll join you downstairs in a couple of minutes. Where are you guys sleeping?"

Rick said, "In the guest room unless they can get the bedroom window fixed and the bed I ordered gets delivered, which might be today."

"Is it safe?"

"They will have Marshals on every roof within reason that might give a sniper a shot at our window. And the contractor is going to install a special, fast drying, reinforced concrete patch over the master bedroom window. It will be bricked up by tomorrow night, and we'll leave it that way till we are convinced there is nobody out there that wants to shoot at us. The window we had didn't open, and I never opened the drapes, so the fact that it isn't a window anymore doesn't really matter. I asked him to make it match the building exterior so we can leave it if we want to."

"I'm glad I don't have a window."

Kate said, "One more thing, Alexis, you cannot leave the building. Not even with an escort. The only vulnerability we have is if one of us is taken hostage. You are the perfect hostage candidate. I cannot emphasize that enough. So you don't ever answer the door or go into the hallway, or even be close to the door when it's open. We believe the people we are up against are highly trained former Special Ops and mercenaries, soldiers for hire, and it's too much to expect a team of two Federal Marshals can keep you safe now that they know you are here. I'm sorry it's that way, but it's that way."

Alexis looked at her father and said, "Then I'm glad I can help take them down. I'll be down shortly. I want to get started. I'll do whatever it takes."

Rick said, "Thanks, sweetheart. Now we need to get down there too."

Kate and Rick got to the top of the stairs. Rick stopped and said, "I need to take a shower, badly. And change this shirt. You mind if I take a break and do that?"

"Not at all. When you get done, would you figure out how you want the living room reorganized? I think Shaw's murder board will be here soon. We really need to have that operational, and it may not be that easy to move."

"Works for me, see you in a few."

They automatically turned to each other for a quick kiss before going in different directions. Kate grabbed Rick, gave him as much hug as her bruises would allow and said, "Here I am in the middle of a fight for our lives and I'm at peace with it because I'm with you. What took me so long?"

"It wasn't just you, but we're here now."

"Oh yeah. We're here now. I better get down there."

She headed down stairs walking like she hurt, a lot.

# # #

When Kate returned downstairs, Gates had the copies made and was studying the files and Castle's timeline for the Dragon's life at the same time trying to find links between them, or tidbits that could be added. She had some notes on a paper which suggested to Kate she might have made some progress.

Kate said, "We're ready to get started, where are Esposito and Ryan."

Gates said, "Remember our talk about the arson investigator?"

"Yes."

"Shaw got a warrant and went with Esposito and Ryan to bring him in."

"Isn't that dangerous for her?" Kate asked.

"She hired an armored truck to haul them around, or the FBI has one. She says it's only good for a few trips before it becomes vulnerable to being hijacked, and she can't get enough of them to create dummy runs, but it will work to get this guy into custody before he gets killed."

Kate thought Captain Gates looked a little defiant as she described her actions. Perhaps it was because she had gone ahead without the knowledge of her team leader, who ordinarily worked for her, but Kate saw only the good in this. The Captain had taken the initiative and addressed the highest priority items on her list in accordance with their earlier conversation, so why not? Empowered team members were the best if you had the courage to allow it. Kate smiled at her and said, "Awesome. Maybe we will get something useful out of him. I am really tired of these guys dying before they can tell me anything. Even the ones I killed myself." She chuckled.

Gates looked a little relived.

Kate followed up with, "Has anything jumped out of the files?"

Gates said, "It was a Federal Bank, which should make Agent Shaw happy." A hint of sarcasm there Kate thought. Gates continued, "But I'm not sure the warehouse burning down should be that much of a problem. Banking was mostly done on computers by the 1990s. Wire transfers, were in place. While the Internet wasn't what it is today, there were communications between and with the Federal Reserve banks. Both state and federal banks have backup tapes off site since before then. It occurred to me there is at least some chance there are records, computer searchable even, that still exist if we can find them. I wonder if Agent Shaw can help with that. We need to ask her when she gets back."

Kate wasn't so sure, she didn't think tapes lasted 20 years but she wasn't about to discourage Gates either, so she said, "Let's start a list of leads and that can be number one."

Gates said, "Thanks for not snorting at the idea, I realize it's a reach."

Kate simply said, "You are on the team Captain, your input counts as much as anybody else's. And this isn't nearly as far off the reservation as some of the things Castle has come up with. We're rolling."

Kate paused and said, "Let me take a few minutes and read through this stuff. I want to get a clear picture of what's here and see if I can link it to the story line Castle outlined for us. I would also like to get someone to put that story line into a form that we can use it as a guide unless or until it becomes obsolete."

Gates asked, "Might the FBI murder board, which I understand is a pretty Gee-Whiz sort of gadget, be the medium we should use? If it could put it up in a form that could be archived, modified, pictorial, and easy to discuss in front of us it would be a huge help. I think there will be more data than we have ever seen before."

"Great idea! Yes, that Gee-Whiz murder board is perfect. I bet we can get their tech to enter it too. I really don't want that data to leave here. The unsubs not knowing exactly what we have is an advantage. But wait till you see what that murder board can do. It's linked in to things we don't even fantasize about. It doesn't solve the case, it just speeds up the understanding of clues and leads we get the old fashioned way, like reading these papers, which I need to stop talking and do."

Kate went through the files and found some interesting tidbits, but nothing that had the Dragon's name on it as far as she could tell. She made herself a list with two or three lines between the entries:

Copies of some bank records for Raglan and McAllister.

The original and the altered arson investigator's files, along with a picture of him. The technique to set the fire might be important.

A hand written note, unsigned, supposedly directing Raglan and McAllister to turn over their ransom money. It had a date that could be used to look for deposits.

Witness statements that were taken from the original investigation and never returned. Photocopy of several bank drafts to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands. No name on it but a number is there.

They are able to learn the origin of the transfer was in the bank that went out of business. This looks very much like the link that ties the Raglan McAllister ransom money to the Unsub's off shore account.

Hand written notes by Raglan about people to kidnap.

Names of a few people Montgomery knew worked for The D's early black ops business.

Less direct but some information, names, dates, that might lead to a connection with later black ops business. That lets the FBI dig into its past which might flush some people out.

She was just about to interrupt Gates contemplation of the murder board when she got a call from the officer at the downstairs door notifying her that there were several FBI people there with this big TV like thing. She said, "Put one of them on."

She heard the officer asking them who was in charge, then a voice announced herself as, "Special Agent Kimberly Martin here, Detective Beckett. Special Agent Jordon Shaw said we are to bring this case display board up to the apartment of a Mr. Richard Castle, get it set up and connected into the support network at Quantico. Are you in Richard Castle's apartment?"

"Yes, I am. Come on up. We'll be looking for you. How many in your party?"

"Three at the moment. We'll all work to get it set up then we'll work rotating shifts."

"See you when you get here."

Kate hung up, turned to Captain Gates and said, "_FBI case Display Board,_ AKA Gee-Whiz FBI Murder Board_, _is on the way up with the three techs that will be supporting it. Apparently the lead tech is Agent Kimberly Martin."

**Well? What did you think? Please click the blue button and share your opinion. This inquiring mind wants to know.**


	6. Chapter 6 The Calm Before the Storm

Castle After 4x23 / FW

10

**Chapter 6 **

**The Calm Before The Storm**

Kate was about to head upstairs when she saw Rick coming back down. He looked like being cleaned up agreed with him. His hair was still damp but he had more bounce to his step. She met him at the bottom of the stairs and said, "Looks like that feels good. I need to do that as well."

She couldn't resist a hug just to take in his scent, her man all washed up. She had to force herself to push back, and said, "The FBI Murder Board is on its way up. I think you have about a minute to figure out where it's going to be setup. It can probably be moved, but it won't be easy."

"I've thought about that. I think I can get two long skinny tables up here. We can stand around one of them that's 3' tall, like a kitchen counter. ,,, I don't think we'll need to add to the clutter with it, and if anybody has time to watch TV, you can find another job for them." Rick grinned at her. "I think the office is going to have to be the meeting room, at least when we aren't asleep."

There was a knock on the door. Rick headed towards it, but Kate said, "Rick, I'll get it."

"Why?"

"I'm the one with the gun."

"Oh, okay. Where is that gun dealer? I want my own gun."

Kate checked the peephole and saw what looked like an FBI agent as well as two uniformed guys she knew, so she opened the door against the chain and asked for ID. The trim 30's looking woman in the suit was Special Agent Kimberly Martin. When she was satisfied, she pushed it back shut, undid the chains and let them in.

After they were in Kate turned and said, "Special Agent Martin, I'm Detective Beckett."

Martin offered her hand and said, "Call me Kim. Where would you like this set up?"

Kate looked at the officers and asked, "Would you give us a hand; we need to move some chairs, etc. into a corner and carefully stack them up?"

The shorter one, Officer Gleason, said, "Sure Detective, just tell us what goes where. But let us get this in the door and the door relocked first, okay?"

Kate appreciated the concern for safety and said, "Yes. Please do." When the door was shut and locked, Kate said, "This is Richard Castle, Richard, Special Agent Kimberly Martin, Officers Gleason and Targa, "Mr. Castle will tell you how he wants the room arranged."

They turned to look at Rick. Kate said, "Rick, I'm going back in the office to keep going over the files with Captain Gates."

Rick said, "I got this."

A few seconds after she turned the corner, Kate's phone rang; it was Agent Shaw who said, "We have Rod Halstead in custody charged with obstruction of justice, among other things. The copies of the original and the falsified arson reports convinced the judge in about twenty seconds flat. We have him in the safe house and will begin interrogating him in a few minutes. I have an Officer Ann Hastings on her way there with an iPad that will work encrypted FaceTime in case you want to watch and listen."

"Thanks, I know Officer Hastings, and I'm going to put you on speaker for Captain Gates benefit."

Kate saw Gates look her way and move closer. She touched the speaker icon on her phone and they both heard Shaw continue, "That's why I'm sending her. She should be there in about ten minutes."

Kate replied, "Halstead made it there alive, congratulations. Here's hoping he knows something."

"Yes. One in a row isn't much of a trend, but it's a start. Is it okay with you if I offer him a free ride in Witness Protection if he knows something that's worth it and tells us all he knows?"

Kate looked at Captain Gates who nodded, so Kate replied, "Absolutely. He's a small fish in the scheme of things. I just wish I knew what would make him more afraid of us than he is of The Dragon."

"I'll find out." The connection was broken.

Gates didn't say anything, but Kate could see her efforts at team building were beginning to have some effect. At least Gates body language indicated that as she turned back to the murder board

Kate said, "I'll ask Special Agent Martin if she would if she would like to help insert Rick's profile into the murder board once it is setup. I'll also get Rick to print out the data that's behind the display on his or have her work with him to transfer it to her computer.

"I'd also like to spend a few minutes with Officer Hastings to ask her how she'd attempt to get in this building to attack us. She has some expertise in that area**."**

Gates looked dubious and said, "If I had my way, she'd be off the force, but I didn't have my way."

"I can work with a clever, highly motivated person, even if they have a tendency to go rogue. Someone with that mind set can grow into a far better officer than your barely-get-by, doughnut eating loafer who's content to feed at the public trough and produce nothing of substance. She has both motivation and talent worth nurturing. That makes her unusual in this day and age. Given the chance, I'll nurture it."

Gates grunted and turned back to the murder board.

They worked together in silence for a while. Kate wished Shaw would come back or Martin would get the board setup so she could get the data organized and have something to look at. She really missed her board at the Twelfth.

About half an hour later, Rick and Martin entered the office. Martin went right over to the murder board offered her hand to Captain Gates and introduced herself, "Special Agent Kimberly Martin."

"Captain Gates."

When Gates didn't say anything else, Martin, completely unaffected turned to Rick and said, "Mr. Castle, is this your work?"

He said, "It's the result of the work of a lot of people over a couple of years. Kate has about 12 years invested in it. I just put it into that form, which was as close as I could get to the murder board Special Agent Shaw had with her a couple of years ago when we worked a case with her."

Martin looked at it for a few seconds and asked, "Would you be willing to print your data to an ascii file that I can use to transfer it into my system?"

"Absolutely. Captain Gates, if you will excuse me, I need to use that computer for a few minutes."

Martin walked around Gates to look over Rick's shoulder so she could see what he was doing.

She watched for a minute, saw he understood what she needed, and said, "You have a flash drive you can put that on?"

"Yup."

"Great, I'll go get ready for it."

Kate took the opportunity to ask, "Special Agent Martin-"

"Please call me Kim."

"Kim, I'm Kate," she said. "Rick dictated a profile into this recorder of Agent Shaw's. I was wondering if you can take the data from that and get it into your murder board in the form of a flow chart that more or less parallels the timeline on Rick's murder board?"

"Sure. May I?" she asked picking up the recorder.

"Absolutely, and please make a file of the direct as told transcription to give to Rick. He may find a use for it later."

Kim said, "On it," and moved with purpose toward her equipment in the living room.

Less than a minute later Rick said, "Got it. There should be a flash drive in here someplace. Yeah, there's a box of them. I'll copy the files there and take it to her. I'll put the transcription on a second one and bring it back." Without waiting for a reply he plugged in one of the dongles and copied the file, which took maybe ten seconds, got up and headed for the living room.

Kate looked at Gates and said, "He likes his toys."

Gates actually grinned a little.

Kate turned back to the files when her phone rang and the officer on the door downstairs alerted her that Officer Hastings was on the way up.

# # #

Kate said, "Captain, that was an alert that Officer Hastings is on the way up here. I'm going to ask her how she would go about getting into these buildings and what she sees that would make that easy or hard."

"Why?"

"A better question would have been, 'What do I think I might learn by asking her that?' I tend to avoid why questions because they put the person asked on the defensive. Having them on the defensive is not conducive to dialog, and I learn nothing without dialog. On the other hand, asking why is a great way to shut down the conversation and intimidate someone into uselessness. You won't get much information that way, but it works fine as a power trip."

Then she turned and left the office while Gates just stood there with her mouth open.

She heard the knock, checked the peephole, verified it was Hastings, opened against the chain to verify she was alone, then undid the chains, let her in, and locked the door behind her.

Kate saw Officer Hastings notice the precautions and said, "We need to be very careful we don't let the wrong people in here. They shot me once; they tried to assassinate Castle and me last night. They shot up my apartment, and Castle's."

Hastings nodded and said, "Understand. This brief case has the computer Agent Shaw wanted me to deliver. She has an instruction sheet in there for Special Agent Martin. She said if you give it to Special Agent Martin, she will get it working for you."

Kate said, "Thanks, Ann, give me a minute; I'd like to ask you to help us if you are willing."

Officer Hastings said, "Detective, I'll help you any way I can."

Kate turned to head for the living room and saw Gates watching the exchange with Hastings. She thought_, maybe she's trainable, maybe. _She delivered the briefcase to Agent Martin who was busy reading in data while Rick watched her every move. Kate figured Rick would be able to run their board before this was over. That might be a good thing.

Then she turned to Officer Hastings and asked her to follow her to the office. Hastings looked nervous in front of Captain Gates but focused on Kate's eyes when she started to speak. Kate said, "I'd like you to go over both this building and the one across the street door where the shooters were on the roof and tell me how you would break into them, where you would plant explosive charges if you wanted to blow them up, and where you would plant listening devices if you wanted to bug them. If they bug this apartment they will probably use hardwired microphones, or microphones using remotely activated burst transmission, so they are very difficult to detect with a sweep unless the sweep happens to catch their one or two second burst every few hours. Would you do that?"

"Absolutely. Would you be willing to let me work with Detective Esposito on this?"

"Sure, as soon as he's back; what did you have in mind?"

"He has a lot more experience with explosives than I do. The gaining entry and planting bugs I can handle, but I need help with the rest."

"Consider it done. Can you start without him?"

"Yes, but I would like a partner."

"Is Officer Benton still here?"

"Yes, he's one of the officers on security detail downstairs. There are a couple of Federal Marshals there as well."

Kate asked, "How do you know they are Federal Marshals?"

"I got their badge numbers and called them in for confirmation before I let them join the security detail."

"How do you know that's the right number?"

"I asked the FBI Agent what number she would call, it was the same one."

"Well done. Go get started. If you need access to any part of the building, please see the building supervisor and ask him to let you in. If they give you any problems, call me immediately."

Hastings nodded, asked, "Anything else?"

"No. Please report back only to myself, Special Agent Martin, Rick Castle, or Captain Gates."

She said, "On it," then turned, and headed for the door. Kate followed to relock it behind her.

When they got to the door, Officer Hastings turned and said, "Thanks Detective. I really appreciate the opportunity."

Kate interrupted her, "You earned it. Now go earn your next opportunity," and grinned a bit when she said it.

Hastings said, "Got it," and headed out the door, walking with purpose.

On her way back to the office, Kate could see the murder board taking shape. She stopped for a minute and asked, "Can we use this to frame queries to databases that might be able to do cross-correlated searches based on relationships between elements on the board?"

Martin's head snapped around to look at Kate, and she said, "Yes! That's exactly the power of this new version of the board software. It operates using SQL … uh … Structured Query Language. I'm tagging the entries with Mr. Castle's help so they can be used in just such queries. That's what's taking so long. I want to review the tags with everybody on the team, but we need to just get it in there first with at least some tags on it."

Kate said, "Great," and saw Gates watching her again from the office door.

When she arrived at the office, Gates said, "Officer Hastings would walk over hot coals for you Detective. Wh ... uh, how did you develop such a relationship with her?"

"By respecting her, valuing her talents, and giving her a chance to do the right thing."

Gates looked confused, like the concept was totally foreign, but said nothing further.

Kate said, "The assault team apparently had unimpeded access to that building roof across the street. I think, based on what they look like on the outside, this building and that one are very similar. I'd like to know what our weaknesses are so we can shore them up before they are used against us. The bad guys have a head start on us. We need to get ahead of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to assault this apartment tonight or tomorrow, day after at the latest. It won't do them any good, but it might give the Unsub a chance to escape, to take the money and run to places where he will be immune to us but still able to stage attacks."

"You think they will attack here? What makes you think that."

"I'm certain they want to. They already did it twice, and invaded the Commissioners home office to attack him. It's just a matter of how difficult it is. I don't know the credentials of the Marshals that are guarding us, but I know the guys coming after us are real damn good."

Gates said, "You have a point. Want to recall Esposito to work with Hastings?"

"Yes, but give him some time with Halstead. Esposito is much like the guys Halstead may have had dealings with. Not somebody you want to fool with."

Kate looked at her watch and said, "Good grief, it's two o'clock already. I wonder if Alexis would mind making some lunch? I'll go ask her."

Gates nodded and turned back to the murder board. Kate asked her, "Captain, would you like to go out and help Rick and Martin with the database entry? They are trying to tag the elements to make them useful in queries, and I think you might be able to help with that."

"Yes, I would. I'm beginning to see double looking at this one anyway."

She followed Kate out of the office turned to join Castle and Martin while Kate headed upstairs to see Alexis.

# # #

When Kate arrived upstairs and knocked on Alexis's door. She heard a sort of choked, 'come in', opened it to see a red eyed Alexis who had clearly been crying. Kate shut the door, sat on the bed, reached out to touch Alexis and asked, "Alexis, what's wrong?"

Alexis looked at her for a second and said, "I won't get away with saying 'nothing' will I?"

Kate said, "Do you want to?"

"No. But can I give you a hug and we can talk about this later? I will, I promise, it's nothing bad. Oh heck," she looked at Kate for a second and said, "I was crying for you. For the hell you've gone through this last year. For all the pain you have endured, for how you fought back through it on your own, how you worked through all of it to come to us and be with us. And I love you for it, Mom. I don't know how I deserve the love of someone like you, but you will never know how glad I am to have it. And you have all I have to give right back at you. Always."

Kate moved and took Alexis in a hug ignoring the pain. She said, "Unconditionally. Always. That's my promise to you."

After a few seconds they relaxed, and Alexis said, "You didn't just come up here to help me wipe my nose from crying, right?"

"No, I didn't, but the real reason seems so trivial compared to what we accomplished in a few minutes this morning."

"I can handle it; what did you have in mind?"

"Would you be willing to find something that can be lunch for the five of us?"

"Five?"

"Yes, Agent Martin, Captain Gates, your dad, myself, and you."

"I can do that. Soup and sandwiches okay? Uh ... do you have any plan for how we get groceries up here? How do we buy groceries we know are safe to eat. I have no idea how long this is going to take, but I know we will run out of food if it takes more than a couple of days. And I'm just paranoid enough to worry about food that isn't already here."

"Good point. I'll work on that. In fact I'll head down there now. You be along shortly?"

"Yeah. I'll splash some cold water on my face and be right down."

Kate headed back down stairs and saw Kim had made a lot of progress getting data into the board. She stopped to admire the progress. Rick saw her looking at it and said, "The software they have really makes it easy to get the data into the board and linked together. Really amazing stuff. Mine is like a sun dial built in the shade compared to their atomic clock."

Kate replied, "I can see a lot of progress - the whole time line is in, and it looks like she's getting your profile in there as a flow chart linked to the timeline. Is that right?"

Kim interrupted and said, "Mr. Castle's story was in pretty much chronological order, so all I had to do was parse it and populate the blocks with his descriptions of what was happening in parallel with the timeline. There were multiple threads, but that wasn't difficult to deal with."

Kate wasn't sure she understood everything she heard, but she was sure Rick did, and for now that would be enough. She heard Alexis come up behind her and introduced her to Agent Martin.

Alexis said, "I couldn't help overhearing what you said. Does your software use action verb/object linking to parse the speech?"

Agent Martin said, sounding a bit surprised, "Yes, it does. We use similar algorithms for establishing tag categories on the basis of frequency of occurrence statistics."

Alexis just nodded and said, "Cool. Then you can use the tags with structured cross queries to filter the data for commonalities and maybe even optimize the tag screens dynamically?"

Kim turned to Rick and said, "Mr. Castle, where have you been hiding this girl? She can help me a lot."

Alexis said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt; it's just so interesting, and I read something about it working on one of my papers for school a year or so ago."

"What school?"

"My high school."

"Yikes. I thought maybe you were taking linguistics at MIT or something. That's where I learned it. We need to get a cook in here; you are wasted in a kitchen."

"Mom asked me to fix lunch, and I'm more than willing to do that. Soup and sandwiches okay?"

Kim looked confused and said, "Your mom is here?"

Alexis said, "I call Detective Beckett Mom. He's," pointing at Rick, "My dad."

Agent Martin's expression softened, and she said, "Got it. Agent Shaw said you would be working with us. I'll be glad for all the help you can give us."

Alexis said, "Right now that would be tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Sound good?"

Kate said, "Sounds wonderful," and watched as Alexis walked with a little bit of bounce to the kitchen where she could watch them and make lunch. Half way to the kitchen Alexis stopped, turned around and asked, "Agent Martin, can you load Dad's profile into my iPod so I can listen to it while I make lunch?"

"I sure can; where is the iPod?"

Alexis said, "I'll be right back with it," and dashed up the stairs."

Agent Martin turned to look at Rick and Kate, then settled on Rick and said, "That is a very impressive young woman, Mr. Castle. You did a wonderful job of raising her."

Rick said, "Thanks. There is some doubt about who raised who. But thanks anyway."

She looked at Kate and asked, "Has Agent Shaw gotten anything useful from Halstead?"

Kate said, "I don't know. Did you get the iPad to connect?"

"Not yet. My first priority was to get this up and loaded so we could start some queries that might run for a couple of days before we get answers. We can't be all that specific, and the constraints we have to narrow the search are not all that firm, so it will be a probabilistic search and that takes time."

Kate replied, "I understand. I think I'll give her a call and see what she might have learned."

Gates, who had been silently following the conversation asked, "May I join you on that call, Detective?"

"I'd like that. Let's go to the office so we don't distract these two from getting the thing set up."

As they walked toward the office, Kate saw Alexis come down the stairs, iPod in hand. Her stomach rumbled, and she hoped the soup and sandwiches weren't too far away.

Kate found Shaw's cell number, touched it and while the connection was being made touched the speaker icon on her phone. She heard Shaw answer, "Agent Shaw."

"Agent Shaw, this is Detective Beckett and Captain Gates. You are on speaker."

"Glad you called; turns out Halstead couldn't wait to tell us all he knew. I've got his confession on video. Also have his signed consent to examine any and all financial records of his we can find from six months before the date of the report to now. The deal was made by phone. He was offered fifty thousand dollars to falsify the report. He took the offer. Gave them the account data off his checks. The money was deposited in his account via wire transfer. Fortunately it was a Federal Bank, and we may be able to find records of that transaction because it was so large. I interrupted my questioning to have my people get into it immediately. They don't need to know what it's for. I'm going to question him further now."

"Was the voice on the phone male or female?"

"Male."

"What was going to happen to him if he didn't take the deal?"

"His wife and family were going to have a fatal accident. And if that didn't work, so was he."

"Does he have any idea how they knew he was doing the report?"

"No, and even more sinister, he got the call before he submitted the report."

"Who had he showed it to before he submitted it?"

"I don't know. Let me find out what his chain of command was then and where they are now before I ask him. I don't want our ripples in the pond to be too obvious. I have my note pad out, what else do you want me to ask while I'm at it?"

"Who did he tell that Castle and I had interrogated him? That we came down hard on him and outright told him we thought the report was false?"

"Got it."

"How did he let them know he had submitted the modified report?" Kate asked.

"Got it."

"That's it about Halstead for now," Kate said before adding, "Does the fact that the bank whose records were destroyed was a federal bank help us beyond giving the FBI more reason to be involved?"

"I think it may. The Federal Banks have been keeping computer records since before the middle 1990's. I have the name of the bank on the Arson Report, assuming it wasn't changed. I'll get my people on that too. Raglan and McAllister, right?"

"Right. That could really help us; they might have trouble covering their tracks if we can get the digital records. Can you do that without making ripples in the pond?"

"I think so. Anything else?"

"That will do for now. Thanks." The connection was broken.

Gates said, "It's entirely possible he showed the report to someone in the NYPD Arson Investigation Division. I think I can get a staff listing of the organization for that period of time. I'll go through personnel. I don't trust anybody over there right now. Even in IAD."

Kate said, "I wonder if Agent Martin in there can use her database access to get us some of that information? If I understand the capabilities of her board correctly, she could take that personnel list and as we come across other people of interest have the machine continually cross searching the lists to see what people or person shows up all over the place."

Just as Kate finished speaking her phone rang. She looked at it and said to Gates, "It's Officer Hastings. I'll put her on speaker, but please let me do the talking, okay?"

Gates nodded.

06/08/2012


	7. Chapter 7 Bugs and Boxes

Castle After 4x23 / FW

8

**Chapter 7 Bugs and Boxes**

Kate touched the front of her phone twice and said, "Officer Hastings, I have you on speaker; Captain Gates is with me. What have you found?"

Hastings replied, "I'm going to send you pictures of this building and the floor plan as well as one part of the structural drawings. Turns out this building and the one you are in are very similar. And they both have a very interesting feature."

"I can hardly wait to find out what you've learned. Can you bring your phone over here? We'll download the pictures to the FBI board so we can all see what we're talking about."

"I'm stepping into the elevator now. See you in a couple of minutes. Esposito is really concerned."

The connection broke, probably because Officer Hastings shut the elevator door. Kate looked at Gates and headed for the murder board. When she got there she asked Agent Martin, "Officer Hastings is on her way up with pictures of the adjacent building and its plans in her phone. Can you download those onto that board of yours so we can study them?"

"Almost certainly."

"Excellent. Hastings sounds like she's found something important."

Kate and Gates stood shoulder to shoulder for a minute as they studied the murder board. Castle's hypothesis of the Unsub's criminal career had emerged in a visual form that gripped their interest. Kate put her hand on Castle's shoulder and asked, "How you doing?"

Castle looked up at her, smiled, pointed at the FBI board and said, "I gotta get me one of these or better software to drive mine. This thing is awesome."

Kate gave him a squeeze just about the instant Alexis called from the kitchen that the soup and sandwiches were ready. Castle stood up immediately; Kate grabbed his hand and they started for the kitchen. Kate called over her shoulder, "Captain, Agent Martin, get it while it's hot," and they both followed them across the room. Alexis had the sandwiches stacked on a big tray, in piles segregated by cheese type. The soup was in mugs.

Alexis said, "The right pile has sharp cheddar, the middle Swiss, the left has provolone. They all have nine grain bread that was delivered yesterday. The soup is quite hot. I made it with milk; I hope you like it that way. It's my favorite."

Kate said, "This looks delicious," as she plated a sandwich, picked up a mug, and moved to one of the stools along the island. She selected a knife, cut the sandwich in half and took a sizable bite out of it. Fortunately it wasn't too hot, but it was hot enough that she was warned it could have been too hot.

The others were watching an obviously ravenous Beckett attack her food with some fascination. She looked at them and said, "If I eat it all first, you are out of luck, dig in."

Castle motioned the two women forward, and they gladly helped themselves. Alexis said, "I already ate mine, somebody had to test it," and grinned.

There was a knock at the door. Kate said, "I'll get it." Gates said, "Detective Beckett, you are their number one target. Let me get it." Kate nodded, interested to see what Gates' procedure would be.

Gates went to the door, checked through the peep hole, and checked that the chains were fastened, unlocked the door against the chains, and looked in the hall to see Officer Hastings and Esposito were the only ones there. Satisfied, she shut the door, removed the chains, let them in, after which she closed and locked the door. Kate was satisfied.

Esposito saw the food and looked at Kate who said, "Dig in, Javi. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Officer Hastings, please help yourself. I'd have taken take a bite out of your phone if I hadn't eaten." The two recent arrivals helped themselves, and it was quiet for a few minutes while everybody ate.

Kate took a second sandwich and ate that with nearly the same relish as the first one. She finished up her soup and poured herself a hot mug of coffee. She decided she felt almost human.

Agent Martin finished about the same time and said, "Officer Hastings, if I may borrow your phone for a couple of minutes, I'll download the pictures you took and make them available for display on the board.

Esposito noticed the FBI board for the first time and asked, "Is that the real FBI board or Castle's latest toy?"

Castle said, "I wish. It's the real thing. It does some really cool stuff."

Javi said, "I remember," around a bite of cheddar cheese sandwich.

Once they had all finished, they joined Agent Martin at the murder board.

Hastings looked at Esposito; he nodded, and let her proceed even though he was her senior. She began by asking, "Agent Martin, how do I make that floor plan bigger?"

Agent Martin demonstrated saying, "Like this, just use your fingers diagonally on the picture to stretch it to whatever size you want it to be."

Hastings rewarded her with a grin and then said, "Cool! Okay, now for the serious stuff. They definitely did the shooting from the roof of this building across the street. There are all sorts of empty two-twenty three brass up there. But what is worrisome is that the building across the street is the mirror image twin of this building. Both buildings are filled with high end loft apartments that have tenants who are treated like royalty. Both buildings have a completely separate freight elevator and a stairwell. They go from the basement level to the roof. The only stops for the elevator are basement, ground level, and roof. The stair well, which isn't hidden, but could be considered hidden, goes from the basement to the roof with exits at the same levels as the elevator. Notice, the stairwell would go right by this apartment on the other side of the stairs next to what looks like it might be a safe room. Mr. Castle, did you know that room was there?"

"Yes, but I haven't been there in twenty years. Here, let me show you." Rick walked into the dining area. "Javi, give me a hand with this picture," he said. The two men lifted down a large picture from the wall under the stairs. With the picture gone, Rick removed the panel behind it to reveal a very heavy but short door. He grasped a recessed handle with both hands and heaved the heavy door slowly open. Inside, they found only two chairs and two small, empty compartments. Rick felt along the wall and then flipped a switch. Bright light flooded the area and immediately revealed holes that pierced the wall on both sides of the room.

Hastings ducked to stick her head back through the door and said, "Mr. Castle, your apartment is bugged. I have no idea how long these have been here, but they would have been able to hear everything in the dining room and maybe the living room, but probably not the office or the first floor bedroom. They obviously had the floor plans because they did the whole thing from the stair well."

Castle said, "Let me see." Hastings and Javi exited the little room, which was only a bit bigger than a closet, which allowed Castle and Beckett to enter.

Kate saw there had been at least four bugs planted, two that would focus on the dining/kitchen area, two that peaked into the living room near the bottom of the stairs. It made no sense to her, she said, "Why would they attack my apartment; why didn't they know I was here?"

Castle said, "Good question. I haven't a clue at the moment. Maybe these bugs having nothing to do with this case but have been here for a while?"

Castle heard Gates talking, apparently to Shaw. She said, "Agent Shaw, do you have a good bug sweep team you can send to Castle's loft. We have found at least four bugs, and there may be more." She paused, listened, and then said, "We'll expect them." She addressed the rest in the area saying, "Agent Shaw will have The Bureau's New York sweep team here in half an hour."

Kate ducked back out and said, "We need to shut down the investigation and any talk of the case till they have finished their sweep."

Gates said, "Okay. How about we just study the files, printed copies, till the sweep team gets here?"

Officer Hastings said, "Detective Esposito, we could get the building super to let us into the stairwell in this building and see what we can find. Notice this service stairwell is also right next to the hall. They could use it to get access to any part of the building if they wanted to."

Javi looked at Hastings who nodded, turned back to Kate and said, "We'll do that right now. I want to know what's been going on on the other side of that wall. Let's see if he has an eight foot step ladder we can use to inspect farther up the walls."

Beckett said, "Go for it, but watch your back. These guys could be in there right now. I really want to be sure they haven't planted any explosives in there to take us out."

Gates accompanied Javi and Hastings to the door, let them out and relocked it.

# # #

Beckett got a call from the officers at the building entrance saying there were furniture guys there wanting to deliver a bed. She felt her innate sense of caution turned way up by the situation and said, "Have the Federal Marshals verify they are who they say they are, check them for weapons, use the wands and your hands. Check to be sure none of the crates have been opened. If they have, both you and the Federal marshals need to inspect to be sure there is nothing harmful in them. Got that?"

"Got it, but Detective, there are also contractor guys with them who are supposed to help clean up the mess."

Kate looked at Castle and said, "Castle, how are the clean up guys doing in the bedroom?"

"Let me look."

He was back in about a minute and said, "They are ready for the new furniture. There is temporary concrete filler in the window they installed from the outside using quick drying concrete. It has a five eighths inch steel plate in the middle of it bolted to angle irons they anchored into the window opening. It's ugly as a mud fence but bullet proof. The lead man said he's expecting the guys at the door to help bring the old furniture out and the new in."

Kate spoke into her phone saying, "Take a picture of them with your phone and text it to me." She and Castle had the lead man look at the pictures of the people coming up. He said the contractor people were the ones he was expecting. He didn't know the furniture guys but that wasn't a surprise. When that was done Kate called back to the officer by the door and said, "Let them up, but have a couple of the Federal Marshals come with them."

By the time the contractor folks finished and had the old furniture out of the apartment, it was getting to be late in the afternoon. Kate was about to call Shaw and ask where the sweep team was when the officers on the first floor called to announce the FBI sweep team was on the way up.

Kate looked at Agent Martin and asked, "Do you know any of these guys?"

She said, "Yes, want me to vet them through the peephole?" Kate nodded, and Martin headed towards the door. She returned a few minutes later with the sweep team of three guys.

The leader of the team introduced himself as Special Agent Len Baxter and the techs as Alex Webster and John Owens. They had a pair of rolling cases full of equipment.

Agent Martin said, "I'll show you the bugs we know about. We need to know if there are more, and if there is any video surveillance that isn't on the building plans or that the building supervisor doesn't know about."

Baxter said, "On it. Guys ..."

Kate tuned out and thought about getting some clothes from her apartment. She said, "Rick, I need to get some stuff from my apartment; I can't live the week in these clothes."

He smiled and said, "Got ya covered. We should be getting clothes delivery any minute now. I called some places I know, and some where you have shopped, and have arranged for some clothes to be delivered."

Kate was speechless for a moment and said, "You ordered clothes for me? Why didn't you tell me? How did you know what to get?"

He said, "It was going to be a surprise. Kate, I've spent a lot of time with you over the last 4 years, and I pretty much know what you wear. I think you will find these clothes a lot better than what you are wearing now."

Kate felt a little upset with herself for not realizing he knew her sizes. After all, he had picked a magnificent party dress for her when they went to that fundraiser three years ago, had it delivered, and it had fit. Perfectly. She said, "I'm sorry Rick, I'm not used to having someone care for me like you do. I could get used to it."

"That's good." He smiled and moved in her direction. "Because I'm not going to stop." He looked around for watchers and then gave her a quick kiss.

Kate loved the kiss, wanted more, but was drawn back to the present when she received yet another call from the door announcing the clothes had arrived. She went through the ritual to vet the delivery guy, called their headquarters, had the man's face checked against his badge, then asked the officers to have the Marshals check the boxes to be sure they were sealed, then bring them up and don't let the delivery guys on the elevator. They complied, and shortly the Marshals had delivered the boxes to the bedroom.

Kate looked at the pile of boxes and was astonished. Rick, "This is more than enough to get by for a week. Where will we put all this?"

"For right now, just take out what you need. The reason the boxes are so big is the clothes are hanging up in them so they are ready to wear. The small boxes have generic stuff in them. I took a peek at your bra and had them throw in two or three because you can't leave here. In any event, When the sweep is done, how about we talk to Shaw and Gates about shutting this down till morning so we can get organized and get some sleep. I don't know about you, but I'm tired.

Kate said, "I'm all in favor of that. There will be guards on the roof, but it doesn't really matter if the window replacement is bullet proof. I suppose they could get a rocket, but even that would have trouble with six inches of reinforced concrete."

Rick said, "The contractor told me it was six thousand psi concrete that will be at ninety percent strength in twenty four hours. Whatever that means."

Kate said, "That's really strong concrete; usually it's more like three thousand psi. I learned that during an investigation not too long before I met you. Uh, it's also over five thousand psi which means it's inherently water proof, so all they would have had to do was seal around the edges."

Rick said, "Lets head back out and see how the sweep team is doing and see if Gates and Shaw like the schedule."

Kate nodded, reached for his hand and pulled him into a hug. She turned her face up for a kiss and said, "I really like this. Being in love with you is so much better when you know it and I know it. Now we better get out there before we get distracted and they knock on the door."

They left the bedroom holding hands. They were still holding hands when they got to the living room which got them a loving look from Alexis and a snort from Gates. Martin just continued to study the murder board.

Kate said, "Captain Gates, it's getting close to dinner time. Can we shut this down for today? We've been at this since really early this morning. Castle and I both need to get some rest. So does Esposito."

"I think that's a good idea. I've been up as long as you have. I have some things to do around home with regard to security as well. While you were in there, the gun dealer showed up. That pile of boxes are your new guns, ammo, and other stuff you ordered. I told him to leave the forms and the guns, I'd be responsible. Shaw backed me up over the phone. I'd suggest each of you have a shotgun in your bedroom," she said including Alexis in her glance.

Castle said, "We'll work out something. Will he be back tomorrow?"

Gates said, "I think we can do the forms here, you can settle up with him over the phone, he said he already had your credit card number."

Castle said, "He does."

Kate took advantage of the distraction to call Shaw. When she answered Kate said, "We are going to shut down here till morning. How about we get started around oh-seven hundred?"

Shaw replied, "That sounds good. I have a lot of things to catch up on with regard to the small army of Federal Marshals we are using. All the guys from out west are in place; the local guys are nursing hurt feelings, but they understand the reason. The sweep team says they have found about a dozen bugs in Castle's apartment and removed them. Some were inserted from above and below. They also discovered a really elaborate HD surveillance system in the stair well of both buildings that the building supervisors apparently forgot to tell us about. They have collected the disks from them, and they are en-route to Quantico as we speak. I have them on a rush priority. I hope we find faces on there that we can identify related to both the bugs and the shooters."

Kate said, "I'll keep my fingers crossed. There was high quality video in the stairwell and elevator in the building with Castle's loft too?"

"Yes, we found it there first. Apparently it's a very high end system, continuous recording, video kept for a year, but the building supervisor never looks at it so they were unaware of what was happening."

"Go figure?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Pay all that money for video and never look at it. I'll see you at seven. The detail that's watching you is all set up and being run out of the mobile command center that's parked in the street out in front of the building. We have people on all roofs that have a credible shot at a loft window. The other residents seem to be taking it in stride. See you in the morning."

Reassured of the precautions taken for their safety, Kate sighed which drew Rick's attention.

"What was that sigh about?"

"What it takes to keep us maybe safe for a night. There must be twenty people on detail to watch over us and keep us alive to investigate the SOB who's trying to kill us. I can hardly wait to tackle that murder board in the morning, but right now I'm so tired I'm almost seeing double. I could literally eat a dish of cold cereal and go to sleep."

Alexis echoed her sentiments saying, "I'll get out the cereal boxes, bowls and milk. My mind is about to explode with all the information that's been packed into it by Agent Martin and her magic murder board. I'll be just a few minutes."

As Alexis moved to the kitchen to get set up, Agent Martin said, "I have some searches going, I'll leave them running. I may have some useful data for us by seven. I'll be back here then. Right now there is no sense in manning the board around the clock, so I'll stay on it while you guys are actively working. It saves having to bring someone else up to speed. It's working pretty much unattended based on search parameters and the search optimization will proceed in accordance with criteria I set up earlier." As she spoke she left the chair and turned to face them. She said, "Captain Gates, shall we escort each other?'

Gates said, "Works for me. I'll call Esposito and have him and Hastings break it off for the day."

Rick followed them to the door, and when they had left, returned to stand in front of Kate. He said, "Kate, don't blame yourself for any of this. The sick SOB that is trying to kill us is the one at fault, and we are going to take him down. We have the advantage now."

Kate blinked, feeling actually unsteady and sort of numb. Rick pulled her into his arms again; she easily settled into what had become a warm and comfortable place. She said, "Rick, the cereal, then bed. Please. I need to feel this peace in a position where I can sleep. If I fall asleep standing up and then fall down, this bruised body of mine isn't going to forgive me."

Alexis suggested no case talk while they were eating. Just normal family conversation like moms, dads, and kids had. Kate asked about the graduation ceremony. Apologized for missing it. Alexis showed her a copy of her speech. As Kate read it, tears started to run down her face, and Alexis looked shocked. Kate reassured her it was just that the speech had huge meaning for her too.

Alexis had come around the island and put her hand on Kate's shoulder. Then at the same instant, both Kate and Alexis moved to give each other a hug. Alexis said, "Love you, Mom."

"Love you too, Alexis," Kate replied.

When they separated Rick said, "I'll clean this up. Kate, can you and Alexis bring that pile of guns into the office, or better the bedroom. I don't want to leave them out here. If someone decided to come in through a wall, they wouldn't have to bring guns, we'd be furnishing them."

Kate said, "No problem. Then I absolutely positively have to get in bed before I collapse on the floor."

By the time Rick got to the bedroom Kate was in bed. She was still awake and said, "I took a quick shower. Towel dried my hair and fell in here."

Rick took a quick shower and joined her. Kate felt him slide up behind her and gently draped an arm over her waist. She snuggled back against him, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8 Powder Keg

Castle After 4x23 / FW

AN: Many thanks to PatriciaLouise and Gwynne for their help with this story.

Again, I own nothing. I'm just having fun playing with the characters Mr. Marlow and company have developed.

**Chapter 8 - Powder Keg**

Kate awoke to the sound of movement in the apartment – maybe in the kitchen. She looked and realized the bedroom door was open. Apparently Rick had forgotten to close it when he came to bed last night, half asleep and stumbling. You couldn't really see into the kitchen from the rest of the loft, so it didn't matter. Still, noise carried both ways from kitchen to bedroom, and that was something to remember if you wanted to avoid embarrassment. Kate guessed it was Alexis stirring around. She closed her eyes for a second and could almost envision the redhead at work in the kitchen. She had a look of intense concentration that showed her determination to do things just right – pretty much always. Kate lay in Rick's gentle grasp, heard the young woman who wanted to call her Mom at work in the kitchen and felt the warmth and peace they brought.

_I want to live here,_ she thought. _I want this to be home. I want this wonderful man to be my husband. How could I stay in the apartment, my apartment, now? Honestly, I couldn't. If he doesn't ask me to move in with him before this is over, I'll ask. I know it's okay with Lex ... uh...Alexis. I would need her permission to call her 'Lex' and nobody does, so maybe she doesn't like it. _Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Rick move. He mumbled something she didn't catch. So she said softly, "Can you hear me lying here thinking?"

"I can't read your mind but I know it's active," he replied, adding, "I forgot to shut the door."

"I noticed."

She turned over, snuggled against his chest, and turned her head up for a good morning kiss. He tried for more, but she gently backed off saying, "Can't do that with the door open. And once I'm up, I want to take a quick shower, find something to wear in that pile of boxes, and join Alexis in the kitchen." She rolled away, swung her legs off the bed, and headed for the bathroom. Over her shoulder she whispered, "You shut the door, I'll turn on some lights."

She was out of the shower and just finished toweling dry when Rick showed up in his bathrobe bearing a hot mug of black coffee. Kate thanked him with a smile and took a sip. Then took another sip and asked, "What kind of coffee is this? It's amazing."

"Jamaican Blue Mountain. It's Alexis's favorite; mine too. Might become your favorite as well? It's hard to get sometimes, so we generally save it for special occasions."

"What was special this morning?"

"Alexis making morning coffee for 'Mom' for the first time. She wanted it to be special."

Kate teared up with happiness that just plain overflowed. She grabbed a towel and held it to her eyes. Rick came up behind her, snuggled her back against his soft bathrobe, gently took the towel and spun her around to bury her head against his chest. Kate couldn't help herself and with some trepidation she said, "Rick, I don't want this to end. I don't want to wake up without you ever again," and held her breath waiting to hear what he would say.

"You don't have to. Kate, please come live with me - us – make … make this your home."

"Yes. Yes, Rick. A few minutes ago, when I lay in your arms thinking, wanting to move in with you was what I was thinking about." She turned her head up, and they shared a wonderful kiss to seal the deal. Then she said, "I need to get dressed. Fun as this is, Shaw, Gates, the team, are going to descend on us in about 30 minutes. I want to eat something and have another cup of this wonderful coffee before that happens.

Reluctantly Rick released her. He started the shower, slipped out of his bathrobe and stepped in. Kate headed for the bedroom, checking that the door was shut. It was.

She found underwear, comfortable jeans and several blouses, tee shirts and polo shirts. They were accompanied by socks and running shoes in her size. She spent a moment to enjoy the very feminine panties in shocking colors then covered them with practical blue jeans and headed for the kitchen. Alexis had just finished preparing what looked like oatmeal, a couple bowls of fruit, and a container of low fat organic French vanilla yogurt, milk, brown sugar, and cream. The way it was set out was both colorful and pleasant to look at. Kate thought Alexis had a bit of her dad's talent for showmanship and presentation.

When she saw her, Alexis give Kate a big smile, set everything down, and intercepted her for a hug. "Good morning, Mom," she said. "I love having you here."

"I love being here. Thank you for the delicious coffee. I've never had any Jamaican Blue Mountain before. No wonder it's mentioned with some awe in fiction stories."

"We save it for special occasions. This morning - today – is special, so I made it."

"Your dad told me." Kate hesitated causing Alexis to look at her, so she continued, "Alexis, your Dad asked me to move in, to make this my home. I said yes. But I don't want to come between you and your Dad in any way. So if it isn't okay with you, can we please talk it out?"

"It's more than okay with me. I am so glad you said yes. It would be awkward to have a second mom that didn't live here." Then she grinned and came back to give Kate another hug.

"Thanks." Kate was looking at the oatmeal and asked, "Is this special too?"

"Good eye, yes, it's McCann steel cut oatmeal, not rolled. It will have little chewy lumps of grain in it. It has wonderful flavor, and when you mix in strawberries, or blueberries, or both, sweeten it with a bit of brown sugar, and add the yogurt, it turns into a gourmet breakfast with tremendous staying power." Speaking of which, where is Dad, "I don't want this to get cold?"

"Right here," Rick answered.

Kate learned the breakfast was every bit as good as Alexis had said, and maybe even better than that. _That_, she thought, _makes three firsts this morning, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Steel Cut Oatmeal, and breakfast in her new home. _

She was helping to clear the table when there was a knock on the door. Kate told Rick, "Don't answer that." She ran to the bedroom, grabbed her Glock, and shoved it in her back pocket. Then she went to the door to look through the peep hole. It was Esposito and Ryan.

# # #

Kate went through her precautionary ritual and let them in. They did have a couple of boxes and a gym bag with stuff in it.

With them in, the doors relocked and chained, Kate turned around to them and said, "Good morning, guys. Put the boxes in the living room, and then you are ordered to go to the kitchen and try some of the coffee that Alexis made. I can hardly wait to see your reaction."

Esposito said, "Who are you and what have you done with Beckett?" Dodged away from her punch at his shoulder and headed for the kitchen. He dropped the boxes in the living room and with Ryan trailing said to Alexis, "Good morning. Kate said we are to try the coffee."

Alexis smiled and held out two mugs. Esposito and Ryan took sips.

Ryan said, "My gosh that's good, what is it?"

Esposito answered, "Jamaican Blue Mountain. I've only had it once before. I'd drink it all the time but it's both expensive and sometimes hard to find."

As he turned to face Castle, he apparently saw the Glock in Kate's back pocket because he said, "Beckett, the bare Glock in your pocket is not a good idea."

"Better than being unarmed or jamming it in my waist band which are my other choices at the moment."

"That just changed - I think your holster collection is in the second box down. That's stuff from your apartment Lanie and I thought you could use. Ryan, Lanie, and I went up there early this morning to see if we could find things you might need and take a video of it that we could look at for clues. The CSI team went over it yesterday; we should start getting data back from that and their collection here and on the rooftop over there."

"May I see the video?"

"Yes, but please get a holster out of that box and put the Glock in it first."

Kate picked her Galco shoulder holster because it was comfortable, wouldn't bump into furniture, and didn't require her to wear a belt which her bruised body wouldn't like. The straps over her shoulders didn't bother her, so she was good to go. It also had the pouch with two spare magazines on the other side from the gun to help balance it. She checked the two spare magazines to be sure they were full, put it on, pulled the Glock from her back pocket, stuck it in the holster, and looked in Esposito's direction. He gave her two thumbs up.

She checked her watch and noticed it was one minute to seven just as her phone rang. It was the officer on the first floor to tell her Gates, Shaw, and an Agent Yaros were on their way up. She told the room at large that Gates, Shaw, and Yaros are on their way up." Then she moved to the door to wait.

She went through the same routine to open the door, locking it after they were in. Shaw looked her up and down and said with a grin, "You look a lot better today, Detective. Sleep agrees with you. I like the Glock in the shoulder holster better than the back pocket, too."

"You and Espo twins separated at birth? He went to my apartment to pick up my holsters and brought them to me. This one is the most comfortable given my bruises."

"Good for him." Changing the subject, Shaw continued, "This is Special Agent Jim Yaros. Martin texted in sick, and Agent Yaros volunteered to fill in." Kate shook Agent Yaros' hand, but something wasn't right. What Castle would call her spidy senses were tingling. Then Shaw continued, "Agent Martin said she left a few queries running based on Mr. Castle's profile that should have finished up during the night. I'd like to look at those as the first order of business. Then see what other background queries we might run to develop what it would take for warrants to go after bank accounts, travel history, and so forth."

The consensus was to do exactly that. Alexis joined them in front of the murder board after she had cleared the breakfast and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Shaw said to Yaros, "I'd like to do this if you don't mind," Yaros started to object, but since he wasn't in the seat, Shaw had the advantage, sat down and woke up the board.

Yaros said, almost whining, "Agent Shaw, I would very much like to do my job which is running that board."

As he spoke, Kate's suspicions went to red alert. She decided Yaros didn't get to spend thirty seconds on that keyboard.

Kate said, "Before you get started, Agent Shaw, Ryan and Esposito videoed my apartment early this morning. When we are done with this, can you get it into your database and tag it in some way that it might be useful?"

"I don't know if it will be useful or not, but I can definitely do what you suggest."

"Would you mind teaching Alexis how to do that?"

"Not at all. Alexis, pull up a chair, you might as well watch what I'm doing now."

More than a little excited, Alexis was there in a heartbeat totally focused on the small screen where the commands showed.

"Okay," Kate said, "Sorry for the interruption, please start."

Agent Shaw brought up the murder board primary display of the case with the timeline across the top and the flow chart of Rick's hypothesized criminal career for the Unsub below it. She said, "Looks like the first thing she wanted to do was to see if there were any current or recent United States Congressmen that had been in office for the terms specified. There are three."

All but Yaros gasped when they saw the names. Kate noticed Yaros' lack of reaction. Did he already know or was he just that stoic all the time.? Kate decided against stoic based on the earlier whining episode.

Rick said, "I'd bet large it's Oxley."

Gates said, "I've never heard of him before."

"That's why I think he's the one," Rick reasoned. "I don't think he's been in the news very much for being in office for thirty years. The other two are household names and well-known nationwide - I see them on Fox News and other news shows making commentary and offering opinions - not something I think our main man would do. But I can hear Kate saying to keep them all just in case."

Kate said, "That's what I was thinking."

Gates asked, "What else did she have running?"

"Let's see, okay, she set it up to feed any names turned up into a foreign travel search. To look for all the recorded times any of them entered or left the country with dates and destinations. The world traveling champion is Oxley. But all his trips have been pretty much off the radar. He was on one official congressional junket, the rest were off the record. They cluster around the time of Desert Storm and continue for about three years: four or five trips a year. They died down, and the trips start again just prior to the commencement of hostilities in Afghanistan and pick up even more when we invaded Iraq.

"The program she had running dropped the other two at that time and scoured newspaper articles and congressional attendance records which are public records, no warrant required, to see what else might turn up.

"Her query found three things. First, he attends infantry weapons conferences almost every year. He has since Desert Storm, especially when they are held during congressional recesses. Second, he has visited the offices of some of the most well- known military contractors, and a couple of the least known based on frequency of appearance in news stories."

"What are the least known," Castle asked.

"There are two, Custody International, which supplies guards for military prisons and security for prisoners being moved to and from various facilities for interrogation, security for high value shipments, and so forth. The other is Night Vision International, aka NVI, which specializes in supplying and maintaining night vision equipment. NVI doesn't manufacture anything; they sell and maintain integrated night vision systems composed of offerings from other companies located here in the States. Their biggest customers are the Special Operations Command organizations: Seals, Delta Force, and so on."

"That is pretty much where it was programmed to stop, and it did around oh-four hundred this morning."

"That plays well with our hypothesis, but it could all be coincidence too," Gates said.

Shaw agreed, "We need to find something in public records that will get us a warrant. Or we need to link him to other suspects: like tracking down the folks that shot through the window here or shot up Beckett's apartment."

Esposito looked at Agent Shaw and asked, "Did the FBI lab have any luck with the videos we got from the building late yesterday?"

Shaw said, "Umm ... Let's see … Yes, they did! I have a report they uploaded to the board right here." She opened the report and they saw three names, one of which was Chris Maddox along with the video clips from which they were identified.

Espo said, "I've seen those other two guys. They were civilian contractors at the time in some sort of black ops activity I ran across in the early days of Iraq. Let me go home and look in my stuff. I may be able to tell you within a few days when I saw them and where. Never mind, I know exactly when it was, it was the day after they pulled down the statue in Bagdad. It would have been April 10, 2003. I could not forget that, I was there and saw it come down."

"Do you know what they might have been involved with?" Beckett asked.

"No, but ... give me a minute, we're talking about nine years and a couple of trips to hell and back between then and now ... okay, that would have been when we thought the biggest joke we'd heard was Colin Powell's speech on April 7th when he said the war in Iraq was drawing to a close. Man was clueless. After the statue, or within a few days of it, Mosul fell and the Green Berets with some Kurdish went into Kirkuk. I remember Kirkuk because the Turk's said they wouldn't allow Kurds in the city. Good luck with that. You know, the biggest thing at the time was all the looting going on in Bagdad. There were a lot of valuable things being stolen that never showed up anyplace ever again. One of our jobs was to try to stop the roving gangs. We were never able to do that effectively because they always seemed to know where we were." He paused and said, "Never occurred to me till now, but I wonder if those dudes," pointing at the screen, "were part of the looting?"

Gates looked at Shaw and asked, "Can you find out if these guys worked for a private contractor in Bagdad at that time?"

"Maybe, but it will take some time. I'll have to search the photo ID's of their employee files, but I can get a warrant to do that on the basis of these guys being connected with the assault on the loft here."

"Agent Yaros, you get the warrant. Get the Albuquerque office to work the warrant for you. I know the folks out there, was there once, I trust the SSA there. I'll call him and let him know the request is coming and to keep it quiet. Alexis, keep an eye on this." Then Shaw looked in his direction and said, "Agent Yaros, come with me," after which she walked off towards the office touching the front of her phone.

Kate had been quiet watching all this with interest. She said, "This is a really powerful tool. Can it tell us where Oxley was during the month of April 2003?"

"I bet it can. I think I can make it do that. She's using standard structured query language. This thing seems to have permissions about every place it looks. Let me see if I can check news stories here and abroad." Alexis started typing, not nearly as fast as Shaw, and nowhere near the blinding speed Martin had, but commands that got the machine to start its search.

Gates looked at Beckett and said, "I'm not much help with this part of the investigation. I need to get down to the Twelfth to check in and see what's happening. Folks will start to get suspicious if I'm not there. I'm not willing to have anybody there work on this, but I still have a lot of activity going on - the homicides continue. If anything big happens, please call me."

"I will. I'll let you out."

Gates asked on the way to the door, "I'm not trying to be snotty, but what are you doing?"

Kate replied, "I'm making it okay for these people to do what they do best. I'm letting fast horses run. So far they are running in the right direction. If the stampede gets off course, I'll use gentle pressure on the reins to bring it back."

Gates said, "I don't operate like that."

To which Beckett replied after opening the door, "How's that working for ya?"

Gates stared at her, didn't say anything for a moment, and then sort of huffed out. Kate closed, locked, and chained the door, but she was encouraged. She wasn't sure Gates got it yet, but she was almost certain she was getting closer.

When she got back to the group Alexis looked at her like she wanted to ask a question. Kate looked encouragingly in her direction and asked, "Something on your mind?"

"Yes. Is it okay if I try to see when those two companies started? Is there some way to see if their origins correspond with when the ransom money was available?"

Shaw was just returning so she sat down and said, "I got it, Alexis. Oh, nice search you just ran to sort out Oxley's travel," she said. "Checking when they were chartered with the timeline dates is a good idea."

Shaw blasted a torrent of keystrokes into her computer, hit enter, and waited. A few seconds later the corporate history of the two companies showed up on screen. One of them, Custody International, was chartered in early 1993 with, what the annual report said was an initial cash infusion of two point five million.

Rick said, "That might be it. The amount of money is close to right. It's a public corporation, right. The books are a matter of public record? Can you get a forensic accountant to look over the annual reports to see if it looks like all the money is accounted for, or if there might be some leaking out or mysteriously appearing? Who is their accounting firm? That might be a place to look if we can do it legally."

This time Shaw said, "On it," and stepped away with her phone again. She added, "Yaros, I'm not done yet," apparently because she saw Yaros trying to take the seat in her absence.

Ryan said, "What can I do? The FBI is doing all the online stuff I usually do to contribute and doing it way better than I can."

Kate said, "Just hang on. Pretty soon we'll get to something that requires legwork and that's where you, Espo, and maybe Hastings, come in."

"Officer Ann Hastings?"

"Yes," Kate said matter-of-factly.

"Why?"

"Because I trust her. And right now the number of people I'm sure are not part of this really ugly conspiracy is countable on two hands with fingers left over. She's one of them."

"Got it. Do you want to have Gates talk to her boss and get her temporarily assigned to us?"

"Good idea. I'll do that right now."

Kate walked away while she found Gates on her speed dial. When Gates answered, Kate said, "Captain Gates, I need a favor."

"What's that?"

"I'd like to have Officer Ann Hastings temporarily assigned to us in civilian clothes. Can you make that happen?"

"Consider it done. I'll have her report to the loft when she gets changed."

"Thanks," Kate said and broke the connection wanting to quit while she was ahead.

Shaw returned, sat down, saw the board had changed and said, "I have Oxley's travel during April 2003. He was in Afghanistan twice, Iraq once, and in Maryland when he wasn't in DC. He only voted twice or was present for roll call twice in April 2003. Curioser and curioser. I don't know a judge that would give us a warrant for Oxley's financial records based on this. I wouldn't. But Custody International's bank account is a matter of public record with the SEC. Let me see what they might have. This will take a while and a favor or two."

Kate said, "Go for it."

"Yaros, please go make some calls, see if you can line up a Federal Judge that thinks this is all worth a warrant."

Agent Yaros said, "I'll go over to the office so I don't disturb you folks."

Kate said, "No problem."

Yaros left for the office.

Castle said, "Suppose this turned out to be a small, disadvantaged woman owned business? The SBA might have some records on this that relate to Oxley's wife. I'm presuming he's been married to the same woman the whole time."

Alexis brought up the congressman on Wikipedia and said, "There is no record of a divorce on his Wiki page. Let me look around under his wife's maiden name which is ... Carole Bridger."

Kate said, "Let me know what you find, I have a call to make." She didn't have a call to make, but she wanted to go into the bedroom from the other entrance near the entry while Yaros was on the phone in the office. She opened the door and quietly entered the bedroom, turned on the recorder app on her cell phone. She saw it recording what she could clearly hear Yaros saying, "They are hot on Custody International. ... No, I can't get them interested in Night Vision International. For some reason Shaw won't let me even sit at the keyboard - she's hell bent on training some teen age kid. ... Yes, Alexis. They lost interest in NVI because it wasn't chartered at the right time. They are going to get a warrant for your bank records sooner or later. They suspect you. ... 3:30 PM? Yes, I can arrange to be out of here then; is that when you want to do it? ... Why?... You are probably right; they won't expect it in daylight." There was a long pause and he said, "Yes. You won't hear from me again before ... I'll call you around six from the burner phone, let you know what the casualties were and confirm that Castle and Beckett are dead. Ok, got to go now." He hung up and from the sound of the footsteps headed out of the office.

She called Shaw on her cell; when Shaw answered she said, "Do not say my name. I need you to ask Alexis if you can use the bathroom in the bedroom. I'm in there, and I need to talk to you in private immediately."

Shaw said, "ummmm, yes. I can do that. I have something to do first, and then I'll call you back."

About a minute later Shaw came into the master bath. Kate held a finger to her lips, left and shut both bedroom doors quietly. Shaw started to talk but Kate stopped her saying, "Listen please. - this is Yaros' end of part of the phone call he just made." Then she played the recording of Agent Yaros on the phone.

Shaw's face turned white with anger.

Kate clutched her shoulders and said quietly but earnestly, "Jordon, look in my eyes! We don't know what's planned beyond they think it will kill most or all of us in the apartment instantly or within minutes. We need to get him to talk, but I don't have a lot of hope that will happen. None of the guys I've questioned were willing to admit anything. They are way more afraid of The Dragon than they are of us. I'm going to suggest we tie him up and threaten to leave him here while we leave."

"We can't do that."

"Watch me. He's a domestic terrorist. He's part of planning an attack on a room full of innocent people with possible lethal collateral damage to adjacent apartments if it's explosives, which they might use. I can call DHS if you aren't willing, and they will lock him up in a heartbeat based on this recording. Furthermore, we need to find out exactly who he was talking to, so we need to grab his phone before he can erase the call. I'm going in there and take him down, you going to help?"

"If I didn't have so many witnesses and didn't need his testimony, he'd be resisting arrest and get shot."

"Get back in there. I'll follow you in a couple of minutes from this door," pointing at the bedroom door to the office, "When I take him down, you will have to stop the others from interfering; they will not know what I'm up to,"

Shaw and Yaros were talking about Night Vision International with Yaros trying hard to bring them to the front of the investigation when Kate walked up behind Yaros. She looked hard at Ryan and Espo when the others couldn't see the look. She pointed at Yaros, shook her head, and gave the thumbs down. Ryan and Espo nodded. She knew they had been with her long enough to read her mind.

Then she walked right up behind Yaros, grabbed his head, kicked the back of his knee, wrenched him around and in less than two seconds was kneeling on his back after he slammed face first into the floor hard enough to stun him. Espo had Castle restrained telling him, its OK, Bro. Ryan had his arms around an astonished Alexis whose eyes were big as silver dollars.

Kate said, "He's traitor. He's working with Oxley. I'll prove it; Espo, your cuffs?"

Castle settled down immediately. Espo let him go and handed cuffs to Kate who put them on Yaros. Then she yanked him to his feet by his ear, walked him to the dining room and slammed him into a chair. She retrieved two cell phones from him.

Then she turned to the group and said, "Please listen to this," after which she played her recording of Yaros' phone conversation. While she was playing it, she watched Yaros slumping further and further onto the chair.

She looked at the recent calls log on Yaros' phone and copied down the numbers. Then she handed the phones to Ryan and said, "Espo, you know a guy, right? One with no connections?"

"Yes, I do."

"Can you get Ryan into see him?"

"Yes."

"Agent Shaw, I'm going to suggest Ryan take these phones and go to see this guy of Espo's who is a genius with these things, unless you have a better idea."

Shaw replied sounding extremely angry and frustrated, "Kate, I have no better idea. All I ask is that they make copies of the data in those phones before they experiment on them to recall stuff that's deleted."

Espo said, "I'll make the call. Beckett, Kevin should take a couple of Federal Marshals with him for protection. The Marshals are going to have to wait on the street. My guy knows Kevin, but he will leave the building if Federal Marshals show up."

Shaw said, "Have the Marshals call me on this number," she jotted down a number and handed it to Ryan, "as soon as you know who they are."

"Roger. WILCO," he said. "I'm outta here; call you in two with names."

Kate said, "Castle, take them to the door and lock everything after they leave."

Castle said, "On it."

Kate looked at Alexis and Shaw and said, "Alexis, you can stay if you want, but I'd advise against it. I need this man to talk in the next couple of hours, or I'm going to have to leave him here to die while we go to safety."

Alexis said, "I should go to my room and pack for time away from here and put my computer hard drive and jewelry in the bag? That's what you are saying?"

"Yes. Exactly."

"Okay," Alexis answered and sprinted for the stairs.

Then Kate turned to Yaros and said, "I heard you talking. I have a strong suspicion they plan to blow up this apartment." She turned to Javi and said, "Espo, do you know any explosives guys?"

"Yes."

"Please see if you can get them to come here ASAP. I strongly suspect they plan a bomb. It's the only thing that would time like that which wasn't a suicide run. The mercs are not suicidal." She paused to think then continued, "Agent Shaw, find out everything you can about people in adjacent apartments, especially the one under this one. Castle, call the door man, find out if the neighbor under you is home and if there has been any unusual traffic to his apartment."

Shaw started clattering away on the keyboard; Castle called the doorman. Kate was lost in thought. Yaros apparently thought she was off guard and started to stand up glancing towards Castle to see if he noticed. Kate hit him in the chest with a spin kick that laid him out on the floor unable to get back up. Shaw looked up with a quizzical expression - Kate said, "He tried to get up, apparently had fantasies about taking me down and escaping or something foolish like that. Big mistake; huge."

She stood over Yaros and said, "You better pray I keep you locked up. If Cole Maddox gets a hold of you, he'll rip you apart just for fun. I think you are easy; Maddox wiped the roof with me. You don't talk the best thing I can do is turn you lose after we have foiled his plan. Save the taxpayers a lot of money."

Beckett pulled him up by his other ear, returned him to his chair and said, "Stay, or I'll start breaking things."

Castle said, "The doorman says the tenant has been gone on an unplanned trip since yesterday, something about a contest he won, but several other people have been going in and out. There have also been some deliveries. Doorman thought it was part of the contest."

Kate said, "Espo, get your explosive guys here; I'll call Gates to get a warrant for that apartment."

As she hit the speed dial for Gates, Kate reflected that it wasn't even ten o'clock yet. Gates answered and said, "Hastings should be there about now."

"That's not why I'm calling. Yaros is a traitor. Got him red handed selling us out. I'm worried about Martin. I think the apartment beneath this one is either rigged with explosives or being rigged with explosives. Espo has some military explosive experts he knows on the way over. I need a warrant to get in there so the explosives are ultimately admissible."

"Give me the information; I'll get the warrant but don't wait if you think the time is close, be safe. We can't let the building blow up. Period."

Kate went over the information she had; Gates agreed it was thin, but she'd get on it ASAP. Kate hung up and told Esposito, "Let's get down there."

Shaw said, "You can't leave here."

Esposito said, "Beckett, we need to do this with backup. If Cole Maddox is there, he can take the two of us, again. Call NYPD SWAT; bring them in quietly, no sirens. Have them act like they are coming here but get off a floor early. That will avoid alerting the bad guys if they are still there. They also have explosives experts."

Kate fought through the rage she was feeling and suddenly got herself under control. Esposito was exactly right. Last time she went off half-cocked they both nearly died. She said, "Thanks, I needed that. Make the call. I'll tell Gates."

When Gates answered Kate said, "I'm having Espo call NYPD SWAT. We need serious firepower and manpower if there are three or four mercenaries in there like Cole Maddox. The last time I tried to do it myself didn't work out so well."

Gates said, "Excellent, and I think I'll have a warrant in a half hour or so. Judge has agreed, they are typing it up."

Kate said, "We should evacuate the building. You agree?"

"Yes, but there aren't many in the building; they are large, sparsely populated, loft apartments. It's several hours till three thirty. We can wait a little to avoid spooking anybody."

Espo said, "SWAT will come in from the front door, no sirens. They will execute a no-knock entry to the apartment below. We'll go from there. The doorman says he thinks there are still two people in the apartment but most of them have left."

Kate said, "I'll wait here. I don't have a vest."

"Good idea," Esposito replied. He said, "I'm heading for the Mobile Command Center. I'll come up with the SWAT guys. If Hastings ever shows up, have her check the service stairs to be sure there isn't anything there or in the elevator shaft."

Kate said, "Will do." And Esposito left.

# # #

While Kate waited she paced nervously. Shaw said to sit down, but Kate was having none of it. Shaw continued to occupy herself with the murder board.

When 45 minutes had passed and it was almost noon, Kate's phone rang and showed a picture of Esposito. She answered and heard him say, "Beckett, the apartment was rigged to blow a city block. The explosives guys say they have it under control and are busy moving the stuff out. There was all of 250 lbs of C4 in here, and I think the guy carrying the last load just left. I asked them to inspect the apartment for hidden explosives. They had it rigged as a shaped charge to blow into the living room with shrapnel all over the place. It was the primitive equivalent of a cave bomb."

Kate grilled Espo extensively on the apartment search. He had been really thorough. His ex-military guys had finally been allowed in by the SWAT team and also took a look. They found evidence that someone was planning to add additional explosives, but they were not in place yet. They went over adjacent apartments and the roof. All were free of explosives. So were the stairwell and the service elevator shaft.

Officer Hastings was reported as heading up in the elevator.

When she arrived, Kate let her in. She asked about the explosives that she saw being carried out, and so Kate told her the story. She blanched white enough that Kate was worried for her. But she recovered in a couple of minutes. She asked if she could go look as well. Kate allowed it and called Esposito to tell him she was coming down.

About ten minutes later the men at the front door called to say SWAT was double timing back up to the apartment. Espo called to say that Hastings had found explosives concealed in the closet in the form of explosive cloth - the detonator was in the pocket of a shirt. The SWAT expert deactivated the detonator and then they felt all the clothes but didn't find another detonator. SWAT was carefully packing the clothes individually in boxes and hauling them out. It was going to take another half-an-hour to get it done.

Kate said, "Put Hastings on the phone."

"Detective Beckett?"

"Ann, how did you find that stuff?"

"I read about it during a class I've been taking at NYU. The clothes feel different, sort of scratchy, because of how the explosive dries. I felt the clothes in all the closets, only the clothes in the closet that would be right under the bed in Castle's bedroom were explosive. I figured they had to have a backup plan and they did."

"Thank you, Officer Hastings. I owe you a big one."

"No, you don't. If you hadn't given me a second chance, I'd never have been here to discover this. Gives a whole new meaning to what goes around comes around, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does. Take Espo with you, satisfy yourself the building is safe, and then come on back up here. Put Espo back on."

"Beckett?"

"Yes. Please pick two of the SWAT guys at random and send them up here to take Yaros into custody. I want him out of here. I'll call Gates to get busy processing evidence against him for the DA."

"On it. You having fun telling Gates what to do?"

"Not particularly. I ask rather than tell. I'm trying to show her by example how to lead. She tends to beat people into compliance and following orders, or else. I'm trying to get her to understand how to make people want to do what she orders, or better yet do what's right without being told."

"Training bosses is tough work at best. It's damn near impossible in a paramilitary organization like the NYPD, but it's worth trying for all our sakes."

"Roger that. Later, Bro. I need to call Gates."

Connection broken Kate dialed Gates who answered, "Captain Gates."

"Captain, I'm having Espo pick a couple of SWAT people at random to come up and take custody of Yaros. We'll hold him on conspiracy to commit mass murder, and terrorism charges. I think being part of planting almost 300 lbs of explosives in an occupied apartment building meets the requirements for terrorism. That should let us hold him till we can tie him in with the rest of them. Do you want him at the safe house for interrogation?"

"Yes. I've been putting together what we will need to hold him and the warrant for his arrest on the charges you just mentioned is in process. How am I doing?"

"Super! That's exactly what I was going to suggest. He has clammed up here. I think new faces with the evidence from the apartment below and my recording ought to loosen his lips a little. You might want to see if you can find a cooperative ADA to walk the line with as much intimidation as can be managed without compromising our ability to convict."

"Good idea. Thanks," then Gates continued, "Beckett, you were lucky Hastings knew how to detect explosive clothes – apparently that's what terrorists are using now."

Beckett said, "We shouldn't be surprised. This Unsub has been mixing with some pretty unsavory company related to war and terror for 22 years or more. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, none of the bad guys were there."

Gates said, "I understand you were primarily responsible for giving Hastings a second chance after that super hero stunt she pulled. Apparently that's working for you."

"It did this time." Kate looked up to see Shaw pointing at the murder board. She saw the faces from the roof next door with names and said, "I gotta go. I think we just got hits on the guys on the roof next door."

The connection was broken.

Kate had a sudden very cold feeling. "Agent Shaw, how do we get in touch with Agent Martin to see how sick she really is? I'm concerned she may have been forced to be absent."

"I got that same feeling about five minutes ago. No answer on the phone."

"I'll call Gates and have a unit go by her hotel room."

Kate called Gates back and the unit was dispatched.

They called in a few minutes later to say the door was unlocked; there were signs of a struggle, but no Agent Martin. Kate ordered crime scene techs to the location, and Shaw called Quantico for kidnapping support. Then it occurred to Kate they were over thinking it. She called the patrol guys back and said, "Take the service elevator to the basement. Listen, as in be real quiet, so you can hear her if her mouth is taped."

They called back about fifteen minutes later with a very thankful Agent Martin. Bruised, stiff from being bound to a post with a black cloth bag over her head, but alive and ready to do whatever it took to get the people that did that to her. She had ordered room service breakfast. When she opened the door, she was jumped by two guys in ski masks. She didn't see their faces. They put tape on her mouth, the cloth bag over her head, taped her hands together and smuggled her to the basement.

When this had passed Kate remembered the faces and asked, "Okay, back to the murder board for a minute, back to those faces. What did you find out?"

"They both worked for Custody International and apparently still do. That company has at least two sets of records, maybe more. The computer has been cross-correlating them based on meanings rather than a simple digital comparison, and there are profound differences. I'm pretty sure I can get a warrant for their arrest based on this data and the video we used to get it. I am also going to go for warrants to confiscate and search all of Custody International's records from incorporation to present, the corporate papers, all the owner ship information however it is structured, and the financial and credit card records of all the executives and management, and their phone records and any travel records."

Kate said, "Fantastic. What are their names?"

"Alex Soros and Arthur Anderson."

"I'll run those by Espo when he gets back."

* * *

**Please press the blue button and let me know what you think. I'm new at this and I can't learn with out feedback. Thanks!**

06/08/2012


	9. Chapter 9 The Pros From Dover

Castle After 4x23 / FW

10

**Chapter 9 - The Pros From Dover**

Kate went upstairs to find Alexis sitting on her bed in what looked for all the world like a state of suspended animation. The usually active young woman sat with her arms wrapped around herself, obviously terrified.

She looked up as Kate came in and asked, "Do I have to leave? I won't leave you and Dad behind."

"No, we got the apartment cleared. It was rigged with explosives, but that's all over. Officer Hastings found a closet full of explosive clothes after the other experts missed them, but we're good. You don't have to leave. We have people in the apartment. The owner is out of town or a hostage someplace. We don't know which yet. But you are safe, Lex; I promise I will keep you safe."

Alexis looked at Kate and asked, "Mom, do you want to call me 'Lex'?"

Kate looked surprised but realized she'd done exactly that. She answered, "Alexis, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do something you don't like. I love your name; it just sort of slipped out."

"I'd like it if you called me Lex. Nobody else is allowed to, but I'd like it from you. Not Dad, not grams, not my friends, but from you, it's special."

"Thanks, Lex. I love you too. Now, you can unpack, or stay packed just in case."

"I think I'll go for packed just in case."

"Works for me. Do you think you and your Dad can figure out how to order some groceries? I'm getting hungry, and I don't have time to fix any food."

"I'll take care of some lunch. You keep us in one piec; I'll keep us fed."

Kate gave her another squeeze and headed back down stairs.

Castle saw Kate coming down the stairs and asked, "How is she doing?"

"She was scared stiff, but I'm pretty sure she held on to it so she wouldn't distract us. She's an amazing young woman Rick. I've seen few adults as mature as she is."

"Yeah, I know. I have no clue why."

Kate held his face in her hands, planted a kiss on his lips and said, "I do, but I'm not telling." Then she slipped from his grasp before he could recover, walked over to Shaw and said, "I want Martin here. Tell her to bring her suitcase and check out of the hotel. She can stay in the guest room. No more chances."

Shaw said, "I completely agree."

Kate said, "Did the video from my apartment ever get entered?"

"It's been copied into the computer, but we haven't tagged it yet. I could show Alexis how to do that if she's interested."

"She definitely is," Alexis said. She'd approached silently in bare feet.

"Okay, have a seat and I'll show you how this works."

Kate looked at Castle and said, "Any chance of fixing us some lunch, or ordering in, or something before I start eating pictures of food out of old magazines? Alexis has more important things to do than toast us sandwiches."

Castle looked at Agent Shaw and asked, "Do you have an FBI cafeteria around here someplace that delivers? Some place with food we can trust?"

"No, but we usually get frozen food meals from random grocery stores for safe houses and haven't gotten poisoned yet."

"That's definitely survival mode but somehow it seems appropriate. I need to make some calls." Castle walked away poking at the front of his cell phone.

Alexis and Shaw were tagging the video from Kate's apartment.

Kate asked them, "Can you start a search running that would try to link the faces of the two men photographed with Maddox in the elevator and on the stairs across the street with employees of Custody International, or any place else, for that matter. We need to find out who they are; we need their names. With names and the video, we can get a warrant for attempted murder, and that will open the flood gates on those two. Maybe they aren't as far below the radar as Maddox was."

Shaw said, "Sure, should have done that over night; I'll give it a go." She started the cross-correlation search running through a list of databases she had access to and went back to tagging the video.

Kate saw Alexis taking it all in. Her cell rang; it was Agent Martin who said, "Detective Beckett?"

"Yes," Kate replied.

"I'm on my way. I got some lunch. I was told to pack a bag, so I have my suitcase. I'm staying there in a guest room?"

"That's the plan. You might as well check out of the hotel. We need to keep you safe. Right now, the apartment may be questionable, but it's improving, and it's a lot safer than a hotel room.

"Okay, I'll check out of the hotel and be there in half an hour or so."

"See you when you get here. Bye," and Kate broke the connection.

She looked around and said, "I'm going to the office to spend some quiet time thinking. At the Twelfth, I stay late or come in early to be by myself in front of the murder board. It's some of my best thinking time. That doesn't happen here. I just need to sit and think. We are reacting to events. We need to get ahead of this. Jordon, can you print out the timeline and Castle's flow chart on a piece of paper for me? I want to stare at it."

"Sure, you will have it in about ten seconds."

Sure enough, the laser printer started to whirr, and in about the promised time, Kate held a warm piece of paper with the requested diagram on it. She said, "Thanks," and left for the office and some quiet time with her thoughts.

When she arrived, she sat in Castle's writing chair, leaned back, closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. Tension had twisted her so tight she felt ready to snap. The past year had been filled with excruciating tension and almost paralyzing fear, and now things had gotten worse. When they discovered the mass of explosives in the apartment beneath them, it had been all she could do not to run screaming into the street. The effort it took to control her flight instinct had been immense.

The bright spot, the pony in this pile, was that she and Castle could share their true feelings at last – find shelter and security in the knowledge of their love. The clarity that had brought to her life, to her soul, was incredible. Just the thought of it spread calm and peace throughout her whole body.

The second layer of the cake was the bond that flowered between Lex and herself. Their connection went far beyond acceptance. They both loved Rick, and over the last several years it had bound them together in so many ways.

One more deep breath, another sigh to release tension and she brought herself back to the problem of catching these guys before they could wipe out her and her new family. She knew exactly how a mamma grizzly might feel during hunting season.

Mentally as refreshed as she could be under the circumstances, she opened her eyes, laid the paper on the desk, put her elbows on either side of it and rested her head in her hands to stare at it. She did nothing but stare with an open mind… let her thoughts flow free and await inspiration from any part of the diagram.

# # #

Connections and places to look started popping off the page into her thoughts so she started a list.

Federal Bank. FBI Records? Investigations? Why did it close? Who might have copies of annual reports? Is there a forensic fast search approach that might find ripples in the pond that they could bore in on?

Dark Ops. How might they get into the CIA to get data that would relate Custody International to dark ops, and irregularities that would siphon off money? Could she get in contact with Agent Martin Danberg? Might he be able to point her, or Shaw, in the right direction?

Pattern analysis to see if she could find a dragon trail. This is what Shaw is doing now with Lex.

Banking patterns. Is there a way to look for correlations between news events and overseas transactions that might uncover a pattern of treason, or profiteering leading to Oxley?

Cross correlate Coonan's history with suspects and the guys from the roof?

Pulgatti. Talk to him? Risk to him and her? He clearly knows enough to be afraid and has paid with years in jail for a crime he knows he didn't commit. What could he tell her now that she has the data to prime him? How could she keep him safe? Could she get his conviction over turned and also get him to go straight? How?

Cross-correlate DEA data with Custody International operations to look for drug flow patterns out of Iraq and Afghanistan?

She was about to add time frames to the items on the list when Alexis came in and said, "Agent Shaw has some pretty cool stuff coming up on the screen. Want to take a look?"

"Absolutely." Kate stood up, stretched, picked up her list, the diagram and walked with Alexis back to the big board.

# # #

As they headed, back Alexis asked, "Did you figure anything out?"

Kate replied, "I don't know, but I made a list of things to look at based on staring at your Dad's hypothesis and the time line. If we draw blanks through people, we can see what we find out using databases."

"This is the list,(;) make a copy of it for me, and then maybe you and Shaw can work on it?"

"We sure can. I didn't know you could think like this?"

"I really can't do things like are on that list, but I can see relationships that maybe someone like Agent Shaw, or you before this is over, can work the details of and make happen. I like not being hampered by what's possible in my thinking. Your Dad taught me that very early in our time together."

"Wow. I always worry about the details of what's possible."

"I try to figure out how to do the impossible with what's both legal and possible."

They arrived at Shaw who said, "That sounds deep. Maybe I can add a dash of reality; the two guys with Maddox on the roof are Alex Soros and Arthur Anderson. Both worked for Custody International and still do. So does Maddox. But the real find is that Oxley is tied into it as a major backer and stock holder through about 4 levels of blind trusts and other corporations. I really need a forensic accountant, but I have enough here for a warrant for Oxley. I'd rather sit on it though and see what else we can find. I think we need to bring down his whole empire for you to be safe. And even then it's going to be iffy."

Kate thought about it for a minute and said, "Let's bring in Maddox, Soros and Anderson."

Shaw said, "How do we find them."

"How about we have them come to us? Let's make the bomb downstairs work for us. Let's put out word that we are moving to a safe house in the warehouse district.(…district: to a big loft…) To a big loft that can be guarded because it's surrounded by vacant rooms. Find one with a helipad on it. Then get the Federal Marshals or members of HRT in there a day ahead of time. Get them out of sight. Then we move me there in convoy that starts with several decoys on different routes. I'll drive the car Castle and I are in, and you have the protection follow us. I'll be the only one that knows our route in advance. I can almost guarantee you Maddox will come after us and will scout the facility. But he won't find out about it until the HRT guys are inside waiting for him. They might even be able to bring him down when he scouts the place before we have to leave here. That would be the best possible outcome."

Castle had returned and was listening to all this. He said, "I don't like it. How about we do that as a last resort? Try to find them using conventional police methods. If a couple of days from now we haven't gotten a lead, I'll go for it, but not now."

Shaw said, "Kate, I have to agree with Castle on this. Let's give conventional police work a chance. Soros and Anderson don't know we are on to them. Maddox may be staying either with them or close by."

Kate said, "Okay, but time isn't going to be on our side for long."

Castle said, "I have some lunch ready if you guys have worked up an appetite."

Kate said, "I sure have. After lunch I'd like to have a strategy meeting to see where we are."

There were nods of assent. It suddenly occurred to Kate that SWAT hasn't come to pick up Yaros yet. She called Esposito and when he answered said, "Espo, why hasn't SWAT picked up Yaros yet?"

"I was just talking to their commander. He says that isn't their mission."

"Really? Okay. Tell him to stand down. We'll call Quantico and have the real pros from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team flown up to support us."

"He's right here, you tell him. I'll put him on."

"Lieutenant Hudson."

"Are you the on sight commander of the SWAT team?"

"I am."

"We have a terrorist up here that we would like you to take into custody and deliver to a safe house for interrogation."

"That's not what we do. We are an elite unit. Transferring criminals isn't what we are trained for."

"I see. How long have you been an LT?"

"This is my second week, Detective."

"It may be your last too. Put Detective Esposito back on."

"Beckett?"

"Stand by and let the SWAT guys leave. I'm going to go vertical with this starting with Gates. Then the Mayor."

"Playing hardball are we?"

"Damn right. I'm trying to stay alive here, and this twit is playing ego games."

Kate called Gates; their conversation was polite and short. Gates was incensed that SWAT wouldn't do the pickup. She said, "Leave it to me, Detective. Who was that SWAT Lieutenant? Hudson?"

"Yes. When you get them to pick this guy up, can you arrange for Hudson to be ordered to be part of the detail?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely. Sometimes it's good to use a two by four to get their attention?"

"Sometimes you have to get their attention before you ask politely," Kate said with a chuckle.

Gates said, "I get to have some fun. Stand by, this shouldn't take too long after I make it look like they are turning down an opportunity for good press with a terrorist arrest."

Gates was right, by the time they finished the lunch of burgers and coleslaw that Castle had put together, Espo called and said, "Hudson and two others were on their way up to take Yaros into custody. Hudson doesn't look pleased."

Castle looked at Kate and said, "He'll learn. He's a lieutenant, but that isn't a synonym for deity."

There was a knock at the door. Kate said, "I'll handle this," and headed for the door.

She checked the peep hole to see an irritated looking face atop a body dressed in full SWAT gear. Well, at least he didn't have a gas mask on. She left the chains, opened the door and checked. She asked, "You are all SWAT, nobody else with you?"

"Yes," the one in front with the Hudson name tag said sarcastically.

"Let me see ID's."

"Oh the heck with this. Bring him in yourself," Hudson said, turned and headed back down the hall.

Kate shut the door, dialed Gates, "I asked for ID's with the door open against the chains. I haven't seen any of these guys before; it was a reasonable precaution. Hudson's reaction was to say, 'Bring them in yourself,' turn and leave."

Gates said, "He doesn't learn very fast. He'll be back."

Kate chuckled and said, "Thanks." She shut and locked the door. Less than five minutes later there was another knock. She looked through the peep hole to see a Hudson with his face all red. She opened the door against the chains and asked, "Let me see ID's."

Hudson held his up. Kate said, "Please step aside so I can see the others one at a time." When they did, she said, "Thanks," closed the door, removed the chains, and opened it so they could come in.

Hudson was pissed. He said, "This isn't over," before he took a step in. He did not notice Shaw standing behind Kate."

Agent Shaw said, "I'm Special Agent Jordon Shaw from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. I am unwilling to turn over our prisoner to you. Turn around and leave now." Kate instantly slammed the door in his face.

Hudson knocked again, and then started beating on the door.

Shaw said, "Kate, I don't trust that guy. I saw Yaros looking towards the door like there was something familiar about Hudson's voice and name. I'll make a call. I arranged for a mobile Hostage Rescue Team deployment last night. Hudson may be clean, but he is clearly more concerned about how he looks than taking care of business. This isn't making sense. I'll have Hostage Rescue, aka HRT, pick up Yaros, take him into Federal Custody, and then I'm going to have them call in whoever they want to sweep this building. None of the guys in the deployment that is here have ever been employed by a civilian contractor in the sandbox. I don't trust Hudson or his crew to get the sweep done."

Kate said, "Works for me. I better call Gates. She pulled some strings to get this guy back here."

Shaw said, "This is my doing, I'll call her," and then turned and walked away.

Kate called after her, "When can we expect HRT?"

Shaw said, "About three minutes."

Kate was astonished when about four minutes later there was a knock on the door, she peered through the hole saw people who stood back from the door far enough that all could be seen, all wore bullet proof vests with 'FBI' printed on them in large white letters. She opened the door against the chain and asked for ID's. They were held up by all; the front man said pleasantly, "We'll approach one at a time so you can read them," and they did.

Kate said, "Thanks, guys, hang on a minute while I open this door."

She closed the door, removed the chains, opened the door, and heard Shaw say, "Supervisory Special Agent Ken Jarvis, meet Detective Kate Beckett." Jarvis removed his glove and offered his hand. Kate took it. His grip was firm and confident but not overdone as would be the case if he was a wanna be. Kate was glad Shaw had HRT involved. She had the feeling they would be doing most of the response in support from now on.

Jarvis in turn introduced his men saying, "Detective Beckett, these are Special Agents Jones and Clausen." Kate shook hands with the two of them, after which Jarvis continued, "Okay, Detective, if you would take us to Yaros, we'll take out our trash."

Kate said, "Follow me, gentlemen. He's in the dining room."

They very professionally took custody of Yaros. Placed him under arrest for all the right reasons, swapped cuffs without having him un-cuffed for even a second, handed the cuffs they removed to Kate, who thanked them, and were on their way in less than two minutes.

Kate said, "I love dealing with professionals. Well done."

Jarvis smiled, said, "Likewise," and headed for the door with Yaros in hand, Jones taking the point, Clausen as rear guard.

They were just out the door when Gates called saying, "Karpowski and I have a lead on Soros apartment. It's not far from here. We're going to check it out-"

"Take reinforcements, lots of reinforcements; I'd suggest having Shaw send along HRT. You saw what happened to me when I went after one of these guys."

Gates replied, "I'll do that. I was going to ask SWAT, but apparently they have attitude issues, or at least one Ell-Tee does."

"HRT was just here, SSA Jarvis. Total pro. If you can get him and his guys, that's the way to go. Shaw has enough for iron clad warrants. I'll have her text you his number."

Gates said, "Been there done that. Shaw e-mailed me all she had from the board and included Jarvis's number. I've got the warrants in my hands."

"You are on a roll, Captain. Please let me know what you find."

Gates replied, "Count on it; I'll call Jarvis now." and ended the call.

Kate was nervous about Gates but figured everybody had to start someplace. Her concern was that Gates had only ever investigated other cops, not guys like they were taking on now. The cops were crooked, some of them were violent, but they were mostly in denial. When she showed up at Soros apartment, he'd know he was on the short list and go ballistic because his only shot was to get away, out of the country, and go on the run. He would not go quietly into custody. Neither would Maddox or Anderson.

Kate said to Shaw who had returned, "Jordon, Gates is going to ask Jarvis to accompany her to Soros's apartment. Can you give him a heads up about what he might find there? Ex mercs, elite trained, combat experienced, armed, dangerous, with an attitude. They will fight like cornered cats. He needs to have people outside, above, below, and lots in front."

Shaw said, "On it," walked away poking at her phone, then raising it to her ear. Kate heard her say, "Ken, Jordon here. You are about to get a call from Captain Gates-" She hesitated, paused obviously listening, then said, "Detective Beckett and I agree you are the one that should accompany her. These guys are ..."

Shaw's voice faded into the distance, and Kate stopped listening. She walked toward the board and Castle. He had deep in a study of the board when the disturbance at the door caught his attention. She walked up to him, stood beside him and slid an arm around his waist. He put an arm gently around her shoulders and eased her closer. She briefly leaned her head against him enjoying the closeness and said, "Any more good ideas jump out at you?"

"No, but Martin has programmed your list of queries and Alexis how it's done. I think she's just about to turn the thing loose. Am I right Agent Martin?"

"Yes, you are," Martin replied.

Alexis said, "This is fascinating. This machine is hard to hide from! It's like having a thousand agents in the field working with the speed of light going over records no person may have ever read, but they are there – stored forever like molecules of water in an ocean. Agent Martin is programming the equivalent of a smart filter that will parse the ocean and home in on the particular records we need without having to read the entire ocean of data first."

"Good analogy, Alexis," said Martin as she hit Enter to start the process rolling.

Then she turned to Kate and Rick and said, "The actual search is being done by a set of parallel processors in Quantico which leaves the computer here free to manipulate the board and analyze the data we have already. It may be a while before we get anything out of the search. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was mid-morning, but I could be wrong. It won't all come at once. The queries running now in response to your list, Detective, are very general – like looking for the equivalent of ripples in the data pond. If we see some results, those can be used to refine the search, and so forth till we zero in on specifics sufficient for a warrant. After that, it usually goes pretty fast. With several queries running simultaneously, we could get results that I can refine for more detailed results sooner than that."

Kate said, "This is all technology sufficiently advanced that it appears as magic to me. But, I can frame the questions, and I know _exactly_ what to do with the results if we get them." _Put the SOB in the ground_, she thought but didn't add out loud. She did admit to herself that she would not feel safe until Oxley, and it was looking like he was the top guy, was dead. He might have some lieutenants, but if they escaped the net, they would take what money they could get their hands on and run. They wouldn't wait to experience Oxley's fate.

Rick apparently felt her agitation because he looked at her with concern. She shook her head and said, "What?"()

"That was a scary look on your face, Detective. Glad it wasn't aimed at me."

"I don't like these guys, Rick. I don't hate them any more; that emotion wears me out. I just want them taken down and nailed in a box they can't ever get out of. I'll do whatever it takes to put the lid on with screws and glue, not just nails. We won't be safe until they are in maximum security with no hope of parole or in the ground. I'm good with either outcome."

"Me too," he said, "Me too."

Kate suddenly felt a little drained; she turned to Castle and said, "Are there any Snickers bars and leaded cola in that kitchen over there?"

Alexis said, "Oh yeah, come with me. Snickers bars are good. We have a box full. Anybody else?" she added looking around. There were no takers, so she and Kate headed across the room to the kitchen. Alexis knew exactly where in the pantry to look and came out with three bars in about ten seconds. Seeing Kate's quizzical look, she said, "Two for you, one for me. Coke on the bottom shelf in here," opening the fridge to pull out a frosty can of Coke Classic.

Kate said, "Magic, Lex, just plain magic. Love it."

Alexis grinned and said, "I'm loving having you to share it with," as she passed Kate the bars and expertly ripped the packaging on hers open. She said, "Ridge runner style? Drink out of the can?"

Kate chuckled, said, "Ridge runner style it is," and offered her can for a toast. Alexis raised her can and Kate said, "To family."

Alexis repeated, "To family," and they both had a sip.

Kate took a bite of the first bar and enjoyed it. She could feel the sugar jolt from the Coke already, and it felt good. By the time she had eaten the second bar she was powered back up and ready for action.

She said to Alexis, "That was wonderful. I'm going to go finish the process, splash my face with cold water, and freshen up a bit. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Kate was walking out of the bathroom in the bedroom when Martin called out "Detective Beckett, you might want to see this."

06/08/2012


	10. Chapter 10 Believe In Yourself

Castle After 4x23 / FW

14

**AN: I own nothing. The characters belong to the CASTLE TV series. I just like to play with them.**

**Chapter 10 - You have to believe in yourself  
**

In response to the urgency of Martin's tone, powered by her recent jolt of sugar intake, Kate jogged out of the bedroom through the office and headed for the murder board that everyone was staring at. When she got there, Martin pointed to two video displays running side by side on the big screen and said, "These are video feeds from the cameras two of the HRT guys are wearing. They have placed listening devices on the window and video under the door - we can't get that video but it is being recorded for later - Soros, Anderson, and Maddox are definitely in there."

Kate said, "Is there any way to ask them to take Maddox alive if it's possible?"

Martin replied, "They will if they can. It's their default strategy consistent with safety."

Kate said, "Thanks, I understand. I'd just like to get somebody to talk before I or someone else is forced to kill them. Too many dead witnesses in this case so far."

Just then Kate's phone rang, she saw Gates name, and answered, "Captain?"

"Yes. These Hostage Rescue Team guys are wonderful. They slid into position in full gear quiet as mice. They came in from the alley out of sight and have the place surrounded. They have some sort of microphones that can hear a mouse breath through walls and windows or something because they confirmed they have three different voices in Soros's apartment. They have no-knock warrants. I don't normally like those but given the voice confirmation I'm confident we won't make a mistaken entry and terrorize innocent people. They are in position to move now."

Kate said, "Well done. We have live video from two of the HRT guys."

"That would be Jarvis and Jones. Jones seems to be the number two on the team. There are a bunch of them. Jarvis said this is a special mobility team. They have dual sniper coverage of the fire escape outside Soros's window. Apparently one of the things that is special is that they have two snipers. ... I gotta go; they are getting ready to enter. From the conversations, the three inside have no clue we are here." She ended the call.

Kate went back to watching and asked, "Can we get audio?"

Martian said, "Yes, but I'll just go with the audio from Jarvis. It gets pretty hard to understand with more than one." She made a couple of mouse clicks and suddenly there was the sound of the entry about to take place.

Kate listened as Jarvis gave the commands in a quiet voice, and suddenly it was 'on' with a capital 'O'. They were through the door, in to the main living area of the apartment. Maddox was caught by surprise but didn't reach for a weapon. Neither did the other two. Jarvis covered him while three HRT team members very efficiently cuffed him and placed a blind fold on him. It looked to Kate like the team took her warning to heart. In the other picture she saw the other two getting the same treatment. There were glimpses of laptops in the camera pictures and there was something on the screens of them.

She quickly punched the speed dial for Gates, "Who answered I'm not in there yet."

Kate said, "I see two laptops in the video, they have active screen displays. It is critical to get to them and press the space bar or move the mice to keep them active. They are undoubtedly password protected and encrypted. If the screen saver kicks in it could take months to break into them and get any data, if we ever can. These guys will be using military level encryption."

Gates said, "Got it. I'll tell Karpowski. In the door now." She ended the call.

Kate heard Gates on Jarvis audio, "Agent Jarvis, I need to get in there right now."

"It's clear Captain," he said. Then Kate caught a glimpse of Gates in front of the laptop before Jarvis turned away.

Kate dialed Karpowski and when she answered said, "Karpowski, give Maddox my regards please. Be sure and say he still doesn't know what he's up against."

"With pleasure." The call ended.

Kate saw Karpowski approach Maddox and heard her say, "Mr. Maddox, Detective Beckett sends her regards. She says you still don't know what you are up against. She will undoubtedly testify at your trial."

Maddox mouth showed surprise and then he said, "It's not over yet."

Karpowski said, "For you it's over. You are going to be so buried in solitary you will only remember your own voice. You are under arrest for ..." Kate listened to the list of charges and the Miranda warning. It was done right. She knew they had the goods on this guy. And even better, he wasn't dead. He might bargain himself out of the death penalty, but that was it. They had the goods on him for murdering the burglar at Montgomery's, assault on her, attempted murder on her, the assault on the loft, and other stuff would probably come out of the woodwork now that they had him in custody.

She turned to Shaw and said, "This was almost too easy. Where is he headed for detention?"

# # #

Shaw said, "All three of them will be in maximum security solitary confinement at Rikers pending arraignment and after trial, in the deepest darkest hole we can find in Federal Prison."

Kate said, "That's administrative segregation, right? Not good. Lockwood got out of there; Oxley bribed a guard to falsify the paperwork. McAllister was killed a few minutes later - then Lockwood was broken out of the court room by a military extraction style maneuver. Maddox must not escape. They need to be briefed on this guy. He can take any three normal prison guards with one hand tied behind his back. They need to cuff him whenever he is outside his cell. Period. If it were up to me, I'd hold the arraignment hearing in the corridor outside his cell and never ever let him out again. If he gets sick, throw pills through the bars. If that doesn't work, let him die. But do not let him out of that cell."

"There are only a few SuperMax quipped facilities in New York State. Sing Sing, Attica, Upstate and South Port as I recall. This guy probably won't rate a cell at Florence though it's currently the only Federal SuperMax prison."

"If you don't put him in a SuperMax you might as well shoot him or me. If he gets out one of us won't survive it."

Shaw looked at Kate for several seconds and said, "You aren't kidding are you. You think this guy is going to get out and when he does, he will come after you."

"I do. Even if you manage to transport him to the prison, which I doubt, you won't keep him in there. No conventional prison system can hold him. They will want him out more than they wanted Lockwood and with Lockwood they snatched him out of a guarded court room with an extraction team that would have made Seal Team 6 proud, and made it look easy. With me, it's personal for him. I am not sure why but he and Oxley want me dead. They won't stop until they are dead or I am. It's that simple. Jordon, I'm in a fight to the death with these guys and I will not lose."

"Jesus Kate. How do you hang onto your sanity?"

"With their help," she pointed to Castle and Alexis. "Only with their help. Anything happens to either of them, I'm gone. Please make sure these three prisoners are not treated like business as usual or a lot more innocent people are going to die. Get an Armored Personnel Carrier or chopper to take them to the prison or you won't get them there."

"Kate, they are just about to transport them guarded by HRT. What do you recommend?"

"It's a Federal case, change the trial venue to inside ADX Florence. Get them there before the day is over and don't let them out, ever."

"I can't make that happen."

"Then shoot them. You will be saving a lot of lives. You won't make it through the trial with them in custody."

Shaw said, "Kate, I think you are over-reacting. But, let me make some calls," and walked away.

Kate felt herself begin to tremble violently and thought,_ oh no, not again, not now_. It wasn't rage; it wasn't fear; it was like her body fell into a huge fist that tried to squeeze the life out of her. Her chest spasmed and cramped; her heart raced, she felt dizzy, vertigo set in; and her knees buckled. Rick caught her; carried her to the couch, gently sat her down; and sat beside her with his arms around her.

Kate felt herself lose it. She grabbed Rick's arms with both hands in an adrenaline fueled vise grip and hung on to her sanity with the last strength she had. _This will not happen to me; I will not lose control, dammit Beckett, stop this shit_, then her vision went black. She pitched forward and became violently ill. Her body was wracked with violent heaves that left her doubled over out of air but unable to inhale. Her head pounded with blinding pain. She fought desperately for her sanity. Her heart thumped and banged so hard it shook her whole body. It felt like it would jump out of her chest. She literally hung on to Castle for dear life.

The body wracking heaves slowed, and she broke into agonized sobbing like nothing she'd ever experienced before. She heard the terrible sounds of a dying animal, but she couldn't make them stop – even when she realized they came from her own mouth. All the paralyzing fear of the last year, the grief and frustration since her mother was murdered, poured out all over again.

Alexis sprinted to the kitchen and brought a cold washcloth to hold on her forehead and a paper towel to wipe her chin. The cold cloth and Rick talking softly into her ear did it. Kate sagged into the cloth and was gradually able to release her near death grip on Rick's arms. The sobbing continued while Alexis held her head gently with the cloth. Rick sat beside her and put his arms around her. She slumped against his chest clutched his shirt and continued sobbing. He spoke softly, calmly repeating, "We're here, Kate. We got you, Kate. We love you, Kate. Let it out, sweetheart. All of it. It will eat you up if you keep it in."

It took several minutes for the panic attack to pass. She focused on the feel of Rick's breath on her head, the sound of his calm voice, and the feel of her head on his chest. The sobbing reduced in intensity to whimpers and then stopped. Her respiration and heart rate began to return to normal, and her vision that had blacked out returned. The panic started to ease and was replaced by shame for being so weak and the mess she made throwing up on his carpet. "Oh, God, Rick, I'm so sorry, so ashamed; I made a mess. I'm a mess. Oh, God, what have I gotten us into?" She heard herself say "us" instead of "me" and was reassured by that, she was still here.

She tried to sit up on her own but was too weak. Rick held her. Alexis whispered in her ear, "Hang in there, Mom, we got you. We need you. I need you. We'll get through this."

Shaw came back took one look and said, "Kate, we need to move this out of here and get you off the case. This is killing you."

Kate forced herself to look up at her and said weakly, "I'll be okay as long as I'm on the case. What set this off was losing control of the fate of those guys. Nobody, except Esposito, understands what we face from them. They are being transported by kindergarteners to a prison system that isn't even locked as far as they are concerned. The people we are up against are better financed than we are. With the pressure we are putting on Oxley, he is a cornered cat. Nothing fights like a cornered cat. Trust me; I know what that feels like. I have to stay here and stay in this, or I'll end up in a mental hospital.

"Please, Jordon, this was just a really bad a panic attack - but I'm actually better than I have been. I'm not drunk, I didn't get hurt. I'll get over it. I've had ten of them over the last year since I was shot and I managed to function, the team managed to function and achieved the highest closure rate in of all the NYPD homicide teams. Please don't take me off it. Please."

"Okay, but at least let me get started cleaning up that mess. Castle, where are the janitorial supplies."

Kate got up and unsteadily moved away with Alexis and Castle both by her side. Martin said, "As far as Gates is concerned, this never happened, right?" as she looked around getting nods of agreement.

Shaw said, "He's going to solitary in Rikers. All three are. They will not be able to communicate with each other. They will not leave the facility for arraignment. All interrogations will be done in that facility."

Kate nodded and said, "Thanks. But please do something to make sure they get there. They will try to stop them from arriving. Get a chopper in the air to track them after they break them out. Please have someone stay on top of that. If they need motivation I'd be happy to puke on them."

"Kate, Kate, you are going to make me change my mind."

"Oh God, I thought at least you would believe me, please get a chopper in the air over the convoy if you can't do anything else or you will lose them. Make sure it has a combat experienced pilot in it if possible. They may try to take it down."

Jordon dialed a number and said, "I want a tactical chopper to escort the prisoner convoy, now, immediately. I need it in the air in the next ten minutes. If you have a pilot with combat experience immediately available, put him in it. The convoy is about to leave, I'm going to hold it till you are airborne." She broke the connection and touched her phone again, "Jarvis, stay in the building till you make contact with the escort chopper. ...l. No, you _will not_ leave till it's in place. ... Yes, I am sure this is necessary for several reasons." Shaw listened for several seconds and then said, "Yes, it's a tactical bird; it will have five agents in it ready for quick deployment. ... They will contact you when they are on station. Do not radio your route, just follow the plan." She ended the call.

Kate, "He's not happy but the chopper will be there in ten minutes or less. He's free to choose any route he wants; as far as I know no route has been announced in advance."

Kate sighed and said, "At least when they break them out, you can follow them," turned and let Alexis and Castle lead her away. Jordon stood there shaking her head.

Alexis and Castle took Kate to the office. Alexis ran and got her some water. Kate took a sip and said, "Give me a moment in the bathroom, I need to brush my teeth," after which she rose and headed for the bathroom and Castle was right with her. "Where are you going?"

"With you. You aren't out of my sight right now for any reason. I'll be happy to watch you brush your teeth. Or do anything else including puke."

Kate just nodded, said, "Excuse us for a couple of minutes Lex?"

"No problem. I'll head back out to help Agent Shaw who has to be the world's most overqualified rug cleaner."

Rick walked Kate to the bathroom. Kate was so glad he was there. How had she ever come to deserve this guy? He had stayed with her through hell and high water, freezing, tigers, being shot at, and nearly blown up by a dirty bomb. She'd just had a complete breakdown, vomited on his carpet, and yet he held her hand and walked her to her tooth brush.

They got to the sink; Kate brushed her teeth, gargled with mouthwash, rinsed her mouth out with water, splashed some water on her face, wiped it dry, and finally felt semi-human again. She felt Rick's hands on her waist; saw him looking at her in the mirror over her head with love and concern all over his features and body language. She squeezed his hands and pressed back against him, then eased, turned, slid her arms comfortably around his neck and said softly, "Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I need you. I promise I will be better. I thought I was better. Seeing him in handcuffs, knowing he wasn't even going to get to a prison he can get out of if he does arrive, I just lost it. I promise I will be more than this. That I will be worthy of you, but right now, I just want to be in your arms."

Rich held her gently, kissed her on the top of her head. Rubbed her back very gently..

She sighed against his chest for a few moments. Felt her strength coming back. Felt her resolve undimmed coming through the rubble of the panic attack, turned her head up for a kiss. When the kiss ran its course, she eased back and asked quietly, "I ask myself every hour what did I ever do to deserve you? And I answer, it doesn't matter. We are together now. You are in every way the best part of my life, you are my life. I re-learn that every day. We are much better at this together than we were separately. We'll get through this sweetheart. Love of my life."

Rick ran his hand gently up her back onto her neck and caressed it with love and said, "I feel the same Kate. We're going to win this. And then we have forever after with it behind us."

She turned her face up for another kiss, and when it was too soon over she sighed and said, "Time to go back in there before Shaw decides she doesn't miss us."

Rick chuckled and said, "She'd miss us."

They walked back into the office to find Alexis waiting. She looked back and forth between them and visibly relaxed. "You have recovered from this bout. I see it in your face and Dad's face. You had me worried; I didn't want to lose the first real Mom I've ever had. You've had almost a year of this. My God how did you survive it? I've had two days and I'm dizzy."

Kate stepped towards Alexis with her arms open and Alexis stepped into the hug with fervor. Kate flinched and made a noise but didn't let go. Alexis said, "I'm sorry, I forgot. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I don't care Lex. I didn't let go did I?"

"No, you didn't."

"There ya go."

Alexis stepped back and asked, "Are you really all right?"

Kate said, "Not yet, but I'm the closest I've been in over a decade and I'm going to make it all the way back."

Alexis looked confused then understood and said, "I'm so happy for you. For us. Let's get back in there and punch these guys in the nose."

Kate said, "Punching is not what I'd have in mind, but it will do for a start."

# # #

They were back at the board when Shaw got a call that they were about ready to move, the chopper was in position. She looked at Martin who said, "We have video and audio. The video isn't too exciting, just shows the dashboard of the SUV. We have two of them in one SUV, one of them in another, and two more that are blocker and sweep.'

Alexis said, "Blocker and sweep?"

"Blocker is the lead car of the convoy; sweep is the tail end Charlie."

"Got it. Thanks."

The audio was sort of confused and scratchy, probably because the vehicle shielded the transmitter. The video was a bit snowy but they could make out what was happening. They followed the car with Jarvis in it on screen like a GPS locator. As they passed near a warehouse district Kate tensed up. Shaw saw this and said, "What's bothering you."

"I understand why he did it but I wouldn't have taken this route, it's the perfect setup. If I planned to take them down I'd come around a warehouse about there with two semi-tractors. They are big and a lot faster than you think," she pointed at the on screen map that scrolled by. "I'd jam them up to separate the cargo vehicles from the escorts for a few seconds, shoot the guards, grab the three bad guys, and head for any close by chopper rated roof top. There is one with a landing pad right by the site I'm pointing at. I know because I flew in there once in a chopper."

"That's a pretty wild scheme Kate," Shaw said. "I think your-" she stopped because of what was happening on screen with the GPS dot precisely where Kate had said she would stage her attack.

Jarvis yelled to keep up, then there was a big crash, the SUV ran into something huge that almost materialized in front of it, there was a flicker of white that stayed sort of cloudy. Alexis said, "Air bag." Kate nodded.

Then they heard Jarvis and someone else saying, "that's a gas grenade," with Maddox in the back seat saying, "it won't be lethal but it will knock all of us o..." and then for a couple of seconds there was silence followed by heavy automatic weapons fire.

They heard voices, one saying, "They are all unconscious. Hurry, it won't last long. NO! Do not shoot the FED's, we don't want to make this personal with the FEDS, NYPD is bad enough. Oxley was specific on that, don't kill any FEDS."

Then they heard sounds of a door being pried open, voices that said, "Pull them out and drag them to the warehouse, the chopper will be on the roof in 5."

Kate turned to Shaw who already had her hand to her ear, "Get down there right now. Keep the other chopper off that pad. We can't let them escape. Yes, you are cleared to strafe the pad if they show up, call for backup now. Get a jet scrambled in from Atlantic City now to take them down if they succeed in picking up the escapees from the roof." She dialed another number and said, "Jordon Shaw, the prisoners have escaped. ... Yes, warehouse right next to their GPS position. Get a Fighter scrambled to take down their chopper if one other than the FBI chopper that's standing by tries to pick them up. Don't let them get away, do whatever you have to to be sure they don't get away. Try to minimize collateral damage."

She hung up and looked over at Kate who was talking on the phone. "Captain Gates, I don't give a damn about protocol, get swat to that location ASAP or the guys that want you dead will be back on the street. The HRT is in a tactically unsound position and under manned. Land SWAT in the lot next door. They need to surround that warehouse and make sure they don't escape. Get harbor patrol over there to make sure they don't get through the floor into the water. Okay, bye."

She returned Shaw's look.

Shaw said, "You nailed it, they did exactly what you predicted. If the chopper wasn't up there, they'd be gone by now. As it is, they are in that warehouse and we are going to need to go in there and take them down."

Kate turned to her and asked, "Does your chopper pilot have combat experience? If so tell him to expect at least one hostile aircraft, maybe more. But he is not to allow them to lure him away from the site. We'll be able to find them on radar, if he is sucked off station the second chopper will pick them up."

Shaw was dialing, "Dispatch, Agent Shaw again. Tell the chopper to expect attempts to lure him away. He is to stay on station regardless and not let anybody in. We don't give a damn about the chopper; we care about the people that they are trying to break out of custody. Hell, I don't know. Shoot the bastard down but do not let them get away."

She ended the call, looked at Kate and said, "You are right, we have no idea what we are up against, but I'm beginning to understand what you have been going through waiting for the other foot to fall. You knew they could snuff you out anytime they wanted to and yet you were still alive. That had to be nerve-wracking."

"That, Jordon, is in the contest for understatement of the millennium."

Just then Alexis said, "Jarvis is moving! And someone is helping him. They heard a guy saying, "Give me your hand, I'll drag you out." Then Jarvis was coughing and making strange noises but he was clearly alive and upright.

"What was that stuff? Man I've got a headache. Where did they go?"

"In that warehouse."

"Chopper see them leave?" Jarvis asked.

"Nope. No sign of them but there is another chopper on the horizon over there sort of parked in the air like it's waiting for something and it's not a news chopper."

"Well then, let's get our stuff, get the place surrounded, go in there and take them down."

"Roger that. We will be joined by NYPD SWAT shortly. We are too short on manpower to handle that warehouse."

"Works for me."

Shaw got on the phone and called the air controller again. When she got an answer she said, "Have the fighter chase that chopper that's parked about two miles away out of the area and follow it to where it lands, but to stay ready to head back at top speed if things develop over the helipad. ... Thanks."

Kate said, "I didn't think of that. Good one."

"You thought of everything else."

"Is the recording of the bad guy saying something about Oxley not wanting any FED's killed enough to get a federal warrant to turn his entire history inside out, finances, phone, credit cards, the works?"

"Yes, it most definitely is. In fact it should be in work."

Kate nodded and went to the kitchen to find a piece of fruit or something with a little sugar in it but not too much. Her endocrine system was good but the snickers bars and sixteen ounces of leaded coke had taken their toll. Castle followed her apparently unable to get more than a few feet away. Concern about her showed on his face. He said, "We have some oranges over there. It's too early for peaches. I love peaches."

Kate picked up the orange and started to peel it with shaking hands but Castle gently took it from her and said, "I got this." He peeled it, pulled out a small plate, pried it apart and set the pieces on the plate.

Kate picked up the first one before he finished and bit it in half. The juice gushed into her mouth and she quickly held up her other hand to catch any drips. The second bite was just as good. By the third one she had slowed down enough to savor the orange for more than the sugar rush. It was delicious.

They chatted while Castle fixed a second orange for himself and sat at the bar. The small talk felt really good. A tantalizing preview of times to come.

The FBI on scene commander had taken over and requested all communications go through him. Shaw asked to be kept apprised but was told he had it under control and hung up on her.

The spectators in the loft continued to have the advantage of the sound and video feed from Jarvis and the other vest camera.

It took some time for the two teams to get organized, establish communications, and get some plans of the warehouse to figure out where they might be hiding inside. Jarvis had recovered to nearly 100% and as the HRT team leader on site was in all the meetings so they got to listen in.

Kate was worried because the on scene commander from the FBI was organizing like it was a hostage negotiation, not a takedown. Jarvis was clearly having reservations about what was going on. He wanted to go right in. The commander was trying to establish communications. When Jarvis tried to question that he was told to shut up and follow orders. Kate turned to Shaw and said, "That commander is going to get people killed. He's not dealing with hostage holders. They left the people in the cars; they just want to get the heck out of there. They have no demands, nothing to bargain with, and sure as hell don't want to talk. He needs to get in there before they have too much time to think and it's already been nearly a freaking hour."

Shaw called back to HRT headquarters at Quantico to tell them what she was worried about. She said Beckett had predicted exactly what was going to happen and if it hadn't been for her insistence they wouldn't have had the chopper overhead. Her contact apparently asked that she put the call on speaker, because Shaw did that so Beckett could participate. He asked, "Detective, what should we have done in your opinion?"

"As soon as the building was surrounded, clear the roof and land a team up there. The blueprints say the building has 3 exit stair wells onto the roof. The chopper could have covered that. After that, it's daylight, go in there and work your clearing tactics till you have them pinned in a corner. At that point it's surrender or die. It might still be possible but they may have someone on the roof by now and that's a big hazard.

"You are dealing with the equivalent of elite special ops troops. I have been in hand-to-hand combat with one, Cole Maddox who is in there now, and nearly died. Nothing I did, and I landed spin kicks and good solid punches, never even made him stop smiling. That's never happened to me before even with 250 lb street thugs. Figure you are taking on a team of five to seven Delta force or Seal Team 6 members and you have the picture. They have been given time to regroup so they are not off balance any longer, you need systematic offense to take them down."

"Agent Shaw, can you get yourself and Detective Beckett over there?"

"Yes, but I don't think her chain of command will allow it. She was beaten up pretty badly day before yesterday and left to die."

"I want her to be the on-scene commander, she thinks like I do and can get there faster than I can."

Beckett looked at Castle who nodded and said, "Call Captain Gates at the Twelfth precinct. If she says it's okay, I'm in. I'd love to be part of taking them down. But my partner, a civilian named Richard Castle has to go with me or it's off. You good with that?"

"Yes, give me Gates number before I retire, okay?" Kate smiled, told him Gates number and he ended the call.

About five minutes later Beckett's phone rang, it was Gates. Kate answered it and said, "Captain, you are on speaker."

06/08/2012

**EN: Please let me know what you think. Feedback is part of the learning process. Thanks.**


	11. What Goes Around Comes Around

Castle After 4x23 / FW

11

**AN: I own nothing. The characters belong to the TV series Castle. I just like to play with them.**

**Chapter 11 What Goes Around Comes Around**

Gates said, remarkably calm, "Beckett, I don't like it even a little bit, but you are in these guys' heads. I'm going to have a chopper pick you, Castle and Shaw up in the street in front of the loft in five minutes. Be there. But do not go in the warehouse. Direct this from the outside. I know Jarvis is wearing a camera and has an ear piece, so you can talk to him. If these terms are acceptable, it's on. When it's over, you go immediately back to the loft. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Please have my vest and backup gun in the helicopter."

"You get a full tac vest and weapons from the SWAT truck and mobile command center when you get there, but don't go in the building. Tell Castle to wear an NYPD Tac vest; it has ceramic plates in the chest to make it better for rifle shots, his vest doesn't. I will tell the SWAT mobile command to give Castle a Glock and an AR if he knows how to use one."

"I do."

Kate looked at him surprised. He started to say something, and she asked, "Research?" He nodded.

Gates finished, "We need to stop talking. Get out there."

Castle turned to Alexis and said, "You can watch on the screen here. I can't take you with us. I can't let Kate go alone."

Alexis said, "You guys take care of each other. You are all I have."

Kate quickly put on the running shoes; Castle found some hiking boots to put on. They were waiting just inside the building when the chopper arrived and were astonished to find Gates sitting in it. They jumped in and hung on as the pilot treated the vertical ascent between buildings like it was nothing and set them down about fifty yards from the two mobile command center trucks at the warehouse in question.

Kate jumped out, ran to the SWAT mobile command center and geared up with the expert help of the armorer who was there. She put on the military tactical vest with chest plates that were rated for a .308, Molle drop holster with Glock 19, several extra magazines in pockets on the vest, stuck a backup Glock 19 in the vest holster, and finally put on communications gear with earphones and microphone. She did a quick communications check.

The armorer said, "I'm supposed to give you a helmet cam. Captain Gate's orders."

"Good idea. Let's do it. Make sure the sound works. She stood still, and the armorer rigged it off her helmet so it so it looked in the same direction she did. She was to turn it off or come back for batteries in two hours. He'd leave it on for now.

Then she asked for an M4 that would do burst fire with a holographic sight on it and three extra magazines which fit in vest pouches. The armorer looked surprised but handed her one. She pointed to Castle and said, "Fit him out as you did me, but he'll take an AR15 instead of a M4." At this point she was 40 lbs heavier but much safer. She jogged over to the active command center that had been setup jointly by HRT and SWAT.

The commander she had talked with before was sullen and giving very clipped answers. She asked him to leave. He objected. Shaw had the Quantico head honcho on the phone. She handed the commander the instrument; he listened for about ten seconds, turned red, tossed the phone back and left.

Kate was surprised to find she knew the SWAT on scene commander, Captain John Davis. They had met at a bank once before when Castle and Martha were hostages. She knew he wouldn't be surprised if she was unconventional. Captain Davis acknowledged her saying, "Detective Beckett, welcome aboard. I understand I am, however unusual it might be, at least temporarily under your command. Let me give you a sit rep."

Kate offered her hand, and they shook. "Captain, I'm no more comfortable with this than you are," she said. "But, the head man in Quantico asked me to do this, and I am not about to turn him down."

"Roger that. This is the floor plan of the warehouse. It is essentially empty except for material handling equipment that is parked here. I'm told there are ten or so forklifts of conventional size, four tons capacity, and another two that are big enough to handle cargo containers. The ceiling is 60 feet clear to the beams. The catwalks around the sides of the building are at several levels; all those out here over the storage area are through the roof structure above the bottom of ceiling beams.

"It has a square grid pattern of pillars that are about two feet square. I'm told they are wall board covered steel, so they may not be cover. The building itself is six hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide. There are catwalks around the top as shown here. The good news is we think there are only seven to ten bad guys. There are just three roof exits; two of them are near the helipad on the roof. It's the only building close by that has a helipad."

Kate looked at it for a couple of minutes then asked, "Where is Agent Jarvis?"

Davis said, "Use your radio, and ask him,(;) he has an ear piece."

Kate keyed her microphone, "Agent Jarvis, Detective Beckett. Can you come to the command center and bring your opposite number from the SWAT team with you?"

"Yup, we are together, and we'll be there in about one minute." Jarvis appeared with another man, who was geared up much like Kate, and they jogged toward them from about 200 yards away.

When they arrived neither one of them was breathing hard. Jarvis said, "Detective Beckett, meet Lieutenant Cane of NYPD SWAT."

Kate offered her hand; they shook, and without further introductions, she got right to business. "You've spent about an hour oriented on the building and waiting for the brass to make up their minds about the obvious, right?"

They both nodded.

"You have to have discussed this. If you were in there how would you set up to resist being captured?"

They looked at each other; Cane nodded to Jarvis who said, "The best way out of there is the roof, but you've chased their chopper off with that Jet, which may or may not still be around. They run out of fuel. I don't know if their chopper crew was captured or not."

Kate looked at the communications operator and asked, "You heard that?" He nodded. "Find out."

Jarvis continued, "Their chopper may come back if it hasn't been taken out of action. At the moment, the NYPD chopper is orbiting the building; the FBI machine is on the ground getting refueled. Both machines can land six people on the roof if they have to. Assuming the roof is out, they want to escape to an adjacent building and work their way up or down the river till they have gotten us off their tail. They would then head inland and call for extraction. The best places to go up or down river are almost in the middle of the warehouse because there are matching openings in the adjoining buildings. That is near where the warehouse office structures are located as well. There is a covered stairwell from the office area, which is two stories tall, to the catwalks above. We are told they are elite combat vets of one sort or another, so they could run the length of the warehouse with no problem, even in full gear.

"There is refrigerated storage in the middle of this particular warehouse, but not the neighboring ones. There is a lot of plumbing, supposedly, in extra columns but we aren't sure of that.

"With that as background, I'd spread out in the catwalks with a man in the middle above the office structure. I'd try to draw you to one end or the other and make my way back to the middle and slip across to a building on either side. We are not well placed to defend that because-"

"You've been placed in each other's field of fire," Kate said matter-of-factly.

The two team leaders nodded and looked at her with new respect.

"It's been long enough that surprise is off the table, if it was ever on it. We have a choice: do we go in now or wait for dark. We also have some options about the roof. Is the roof cluttered with vents or other equipment housings other than possibly refrigeration compressors near the middle above the cold storage?"

Davis said, "The chopper pilots both said there was little cover on the roof other than the equipment enclosures, supposedly refrigeration equipment, which is mostly under the helipad, and the helipad structure itself. Based on data from the city engineers, the helipad is supported all the way from the warehouse floor by heavier than normal pillars."

Kate asked, "Does either of our choppers have infrared sensor capability onboard?"

Davis said, "Ours does, and we have portable IR detection equipment in the MCC."

"Night vision equipment including sights for the rifles?"

Jarvis said, "Yes, we do."

Davis said, "Oh, yeah."

Kate said, "Let me make a suggestion for a plan. I don't have any indispensible ego attached to this, so have at it. I want what we end up doing to be something we are all comfortable with given the circumstances. I'm going to suggest:

"One, we go in after dark with the power to the warehouse turned off.

"Two, we put the surrounding guard force on the catwalks near those vent windows at the top of the neighboring warehouses. Get them set up with night vision and rifles so they can take out any hostiles trying to cross the 50 yards or so between buildings. We will set up a sniper team on the roof at the street end of the building so their field of fire is the length of this aisle between the buildings. That way they are shooting down on the concrete deck here to minimize the risk of shots carrying out over the river.

"Three, we make a lot of noise like we are going to come in at the river end but make our actual entrance on the street end. There are several man doors there. I doubt their extraction team has night vision equipment since it was a daylight operation, and they had to travel light. We will leave the warehouse lights on till just before we go in. The night vision equipment will make up for not being dark adapted.

"Four, the choppers light up the roof and stand by to land on the helipad, but only if we end up with them treed on the roof. Otherwise the choppers become targets. They would regard anything we land up there as fair game for making their escape. I'm pretty sure at least one of them will have at least rudimentary chopper training, maybe more than one of them. Mercs tend to cross train."

At that moment, Captain Davis interjected, "Their chopper landed but the crew escaped before they could be apprehended."

Beckett replied, "Thanks Captain. They may have access to another chopper, but at least they aren't up there right now."

"Martin, I know you can hear me; can you get me information about the roof of the building. Is it safe to walk on? I'm pretty sure it isn't flat. Call my cell when you find out."

"Thoughts? Observations?" she finished.

Cain and Jarvis looked at each other; this time Jarvis nodded and Cain said, "You are reading our minds. At this point with them recovered from the gas attack, night is an advantage to us, and it's only another hour-and-a-half or two hour wait. I agree. We enter at the street end of the building, and use the portable infrared detection equipment plus the night sights on the ARs to pick off any of them on the catwalks at that end. I'm pretty sure they are wearing vests, though probably not military vests like we have – the rifle bullets we have should penetrate their vests. They do have relatively heavy armament, I'd say .308. Probably no heavy sniper rifles, no three-thirty eights for example, and no three hundred Win Mags. They needed to travel light for the extraction they had planned.

"Once that end is cleared, I'd send at least 4 people up the stairwells at each side on that end. They are covered because they stack freight against them, so if we are quiet, we can get up to the catwalks before they realize we are there."

Kate said, "They may have booby trapped the stair wells. How would you deal with that?"

Jarvis scratched his head and said, "Good point. That might make it tough. But now that you mention it, that is exactly what I'd do, and plan to exfil by roping down if I wasn't picked up on the roof; it's fast and really quiet. There is probably a rope locker someplace in this building, and no doubt, they have found it and taken advantage of the time delay to install exfil ropes at handy locations."

"Climbing the ropes sixty feet with this gear on is a non-starter. We'd be hanging ducks."

"We have a good booby trap guy," Jarvis said. "We could have him go up the stair well ahead of us. I'm no expert, but I think up is easier to detect problems than down."

Kate said, "So we'd be driving them towards the middle or the water. We need to set up to intercept them at each point. We have four snipers, right?" Jarvis nodded and she continued, "Let's set one of them up on the floor in the corner just inside the street end. It's only a 200 yard shot the length of the building. I'd also like to suggest we put a really bright light aimed into the building at the big middle door from adjacent warehouses on either side. We leave it off till we see them trying to escape from the middle, and then turn it on. If they drop their weapons they live. If they don't, they die. I'd prefer if we could shoot their knee caps, but on running people that isn't going to happen."

Jarvis said, "You are one cold lady."

Kate said, "One of those guys, Maddox, shot me through the chest a year ago. Same guy beat the crap out of me on a roof two nights ago, threw me off the roof, saw me hanging from a ledge, smiled at me, turned and left me to fall to my death. Their big boss had my mother and my Captain murdered to cover up his sins. I have exactly zero compassion for them. I won't do anything stupid. I want more than anything to take them alive and squeeze information out of them to nail their boss. But we can't fool with them. They are one deadly crew. Jarvis, the only reason you are alive is their big boss said don't kill Feds. I heard the guy that pulled Maddox from the car say that when the car was attacked, and we have it on video.

Jarvis nodded at her, "Understand."

"Okay, we have about two hours to go before it gets dark enough to do this. Who do I speak to in order to get lights?"

Gates said, "That would be me. You guys get some food in relays, round up your attack troops for the briefing in relays, I'll get lights. Really, really bright burn-your-retinas-into-orange spots lights.

Kate said, "Captain, can we keep Ryan and Esposito out of this?"

"Yes. I've had them report to the loft. They should be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Good. I'll feel Alexis is safer with them there."

"Where do we get food?"

Davis said, "That would be my job. I happen to know there is an absolutely wonderful burger place not too far from here that will deliver. How about I order a burger deluxe, fries, and coke for everybody?"

Beckett said, "I'd love a big old burger right about now," remembering she hadn't had a real meal for hours.

Davis said, "Consider it done."

Jarvis and Cane got their troops together in small groups, leaving the warehouse well-guarded. The teams were introduced to each other. They went over the plan in detail. The armorer, with the help of some of the troops, got the night sight adaptors installed on the rifles ahead of the regular scopes, and night vision goggles with helmets to those who would be using handguns. He installed grip activated lasers on Beckett's and Castle's Glocks. They checked all the communications equipment. Davis had arranged for four ambulances and paramedics to be just off site.

Finally they ate their burgers. Kate loved big thick juicy burgers with lettuce, onion, tomato, and mayo. These hit the spot. So did the fries. No tricks, no over spiced too clever by half curly crap, nothing but perfectly square cut crisp fries with just the right amount of salt. They didn't even need catsup. She thought it was awesome. She fought off the guilt by remembering the recent studies that said low fat high carb diets were worse than low carb. How about high both? Yeah, that's the ticket. At least for right now.

Beckett stopped by the armorer and had the battery on her camera gear replaced.

Finally, about nine o'clock, they made their entry. Beckett and Castle had moved down the building to be just inside the big middle door. Jarvis's vest camera was fitted with night vision so they could see at least what he was up to on the laptop Davis had given them. The first guys in, Jarvis and Cane of course, used the heat spotting equipment and night vision goggles to pick out two guys about on the centerline of the building half way to the center structure.

Kate spoke in Jarvis ear, "You are sure you are clear above? The chopper sees the same guy you do and nothing overhead, but I'd feel better if your IR equipment couldn't see anybody over your heads."

Jarvis clicked the mike twice but said nothing. He stayed on his feet but braced himself against the stairwell and took a single shot. The hot spot on the IR dropped to the floor, and they heard the guy hit. Jarvis scrammed immediately after his shot and good thing he did. Return fire chewed into the wall and stairwell exactly where he'd been located. One of the SWAT guys on the other side of the building must have spotted the muzzle flash and squeezed off an answering shot. Another IR blob dropped, and a body hit the floor with a splat.

Kate and Castle watched from their position inside the mid-length door of the warehouse where the suspects were expected to try to make their escape. Kate made sure her helmet cam was on. She wasn't sure how it would deal with the huge change in light when that happened, but at the moment, there was nothing to be done about that.

She ignored everything that was going on and stayed focused on the opening in the building across the way. She could feel Castle looking all around and almost said something but restrained herself. She thought he might see something unexpected. And he did. He whispered, "Beckett, they just threw ropes out of two of those windows just under the eaves. I think they are planning to come down them and head over here."

Kate keyed her radio and said, "We have ropes just thrown out of the windows under the eaves about a quarter of the way down the building from the street and about a quarter of the way up from the river. Snipers, stand by without your night vision scopes, I'm going to turn on the bright lights when we see them on the ground. There won't be any place for them to hide.

Davis on the other side of the building with Gates said, "No ropes on this side, but we will keep an eye open just in case."

"Roger," Kate said. She picked up her M4, tilted the night sight over to take it out of action, flipped the lever to burst fire, kept her finger off the trigger and kept watching through her night vision goggles. Then she saw it. A gray blob descending the side of the building on each rope. She keyed her radio, "I have tangos sliding down the ropes out here. Standby the lights."

Jarvis said, "I have four sliding down in here."

Kate saw grey blobs emerge from the door at the same time as two more came down the ropes. She flipped up her night vision goggles and said, "Lights."

It got really really bright all of a sudden. The bright lights caught the bad guys about a third of the way across running in their direction. Two of them stumbled as about ten million candle power hit them in the eyes. All but one stopped and dropped their weapons. That one came directly at Beckett at a dead run; it was Cole Maddox.

# # #

Kate had her rifle up, the holographic sight's red dot on the torso of the running man. She shouted, "Halt, Police."

Maddox raised his rifle in her direction, so she had to shoot, and she did. She pressed the trigger once. One three round burst hit him in the right chest. Maddox fell, his rifle slid away. Kate said, "Castle, watch him; if he moves shoot him." She called out to the rest of them, "Get down! On the concrete! Hands out to your sides! Slide the weapons away from you with your feet." When she had them all on the ground, she keyed her radio and said, "Jarvis, Cane, clear the building. Davis, anything on your side?"

"Clear here," Davis replied.

"Davis, hold station. Don't want any leaving on your side."

"WILCO."

Kate saw Jarvis come out of the building shielding his eyes. She keyed her mic and said, "Inside the building, take cover, the lights are coming on. Okay, give me normal lighting." Warehouse lights came on and she said, "Spot lights off."

The big bright lights went off. It left all of them a bit blinded but not nearly so bad as the people who had been in front of them.

Kate walked out of the building and approached Maddox. She saw his eyes blink, checked that his hands were empty and stopped about ten yards away. She could see a big puddle of blood - he hadn't been wearing a vest. She confirmed the three round burst had hit him in the right side of the chest which seemed fair, he'd shot her in the chest before and he was twice as big.

It was pretty clear he couldn't move. She keyed her radio and said, "Get the paramedics with a bus down here. We have one seriously wounded."

She got to him, looked down and said, "I told you you didn't know what you were up against." She was aware of Castle right beside her. She said, "Who do you work for; who is behind all this?" She could see him trying to say something, knelt down to be closer. He was looking almost amused.

His last words were, "He knows your every move. He hears everything you say. You are a dead woman walking. You will never get away from Oxley ..." and he died.

Kate's head whipped around to Castle and she asked, "Did I hear that correctly, he said 'You will never get away from Oxley?"

"That's exactly what I heard Kate. He also said a lot of other things that I hope the microphone got."

Kate said for the microphone, "Shaw, Martin, please use this video and sound to get a warrant for everything imaginable about Oxley, including permission to send him to a proctologist. I want to know everything about that asshole."

**EN: Please review. Reader feedback is 'the' most important part of the learning process. Thanks.**

06/08/2012


	12. Explosions, Thrill Rides, and Promises

Castle After 4x23 / FW

** AN: Many thanks to Patricia Louise and Gwynne for their help with this, and for their incredible patience mentoring a new writer. **

**I own nothing. But I sure enjoy playing with the characters that are owned by the Castle TV series. Marlow and company have done a marvelous job of developing the characters.**

**Chapter 12 Explosions, Thrill Rides, and Promises**

With Maddox dead, Kate looked up astonished to see SWAT and HRT operatives all over the men on the ground. She couldn't believe the lack of discipline. She shouted, "Cuff them, then one-on-one only. The rest of you get back in there and clear that warehouse right now! Jarvis, I need you to clear that building. Do it now. I want every nook and cranny looked at by at least two sets of eyes. Move!" She keyed her radio and said, "All but those who are one-on-one with the prisoners clear the warehouse. Leave no place unsearched. If you see a paint spot look under it. Captain Davis, you and Gates still watching the far side?"

Davis responded, "Yes, we are. I've been watching, and nobody has tried to leave here. Captain Gates is here with me."

Back on the radio, Kate continued, "Please stay there. Jarvis, Cane, get people to clear the stairwells first; I'm concerned they are booby trapped. I'm also concerned about the office space and cold storage in the middle of the warehouse. This feels odd to me,(;) something doesn't add up. Wouldn't surprise me if they left one or two behind to distract us with an explosion. Could be planned to help them escape or to cover up some shady activity in this warehouse. These guys are ruthless pros, and they like to blow things up. We're going to stay put and lock it down 'till daylight."

Jarvis replied, "10-4, WILCO, hadn't considered the distraction angle. We're on it."

Cain replied, "10-4, WILCO."

Kate keyed the radio again and said, "Castle and I will watch this side of the warehouse. Agent Shaw, please read these guys their rights and arrest then on whatever charge comes to mind."

Shaw said, "10-4, officers, cuff the suspects with their hands behind them and bring them to the command center. Do not let them get closer together than 20 feet from each other. Do not get close to them yourselves, one-on-one. If you have a second pair of cuffs, cuff their wrists to their belts in back as well."

Kate saw the officers pair up to put the second pair of cuffs on the suspects. She thought that was a very good idea. They were fit and flexible; normally, they could get their cuffed hands in front of them with no trouble. Then she saw one law officer from each pair break away and walk to the building where they formed up around Jarvis and Cain prior to a tactical deployment through the door.

Kate keyed her radio and said, "Command Center, please arrange for transport, I'll give you a destination in a few minutes. Agent Shaw, when you get a minute, please call me on my cell phone. To all on this frequency, I do not, repeat do _**not**_, want the prisoners' destinations broadcast on the air under any circumstances."

She finished her transmission, and her phone rang. It was Shaw who said, "There are nine of these guys. More than I thought we'd have. I don't have any place to take them that holds this many."

"Can you call Quantico and arrange to air ship them to a federal pen someplace?"

"Yes, but that will take time."

"Can someone rent a place where we can stand guards around them while that is arranged?"

"I think we need to take them to Rikers. The other prisons are too far away and offer too many escape opportunities. I don't know how big an army Oxley has, but I'd think we have most of the local talent in hand at the moment, and at least one of them is dead."

Kate thought a moment, then said, "Okay, I'll have Davis set up transport to Rikers, but I'm going to do it by phone."

Kate broke the connection and dialed Gates who answered, "Detective?"

Captain, "Would you please put your phone on speaker. I need to talk to both of you."

"You are on speaker."

"Captain Davis, I need you to arrange for transport of the prisoners to Rikers. I need it done without a single radio broadcast. I'd prefer if it was done using landlines. I don't want the route published. It will be given to the drivers about thirty seconds before they leave, and all cell phones but yours will be turned off. Batteries removed. Strip search and sweep the prisoners for locating devices of any kind. Pay special attention to shoes and in the hair. Shave heads if you have to. All jewelry is to be removed. None of them were wearing glasses, so if you find any glasses take them away. Nothing removed from the prisoners is to go in the convoy. It can be taken from here by chopper and meet you at Rikers."

"I agree. It sounds extreme, but at this point, I wouldn't put anything past them."

"Thanks. Out." Kate broke the connection.

She was about to key her radio to ask Jarvis how it was going when he came on, "Heads up," he said. "I saw a movement on the top of the structures in the middle of the building. Yup, there it is again. Take cover, I'm heading up there."

Kate quickly broadcast, "Negative. Do not proceed up there. Get your squad together and plan an assault on that area. Work out lines of fire and approaches. Switch frequencies before the assault starts."

"10-4, HRT Squad 3 south end of the structure. It isn't visible from the roof. Squad 2, maintain watch, back-to-back."

Cane came on and said, "Jarvis, we'll cover you from the perimeter and keep them pinned down."

"Thanks."

Someone said, "I wonder how long we will be?"

Kate snapped, "Tactical traffic only." She thought, _whoever that was needed to stuff a dirty sock in it. Non-tactical radio traffic was amateur discipline. It could also be the bad guys trying to communicate with outside bad guys. How many were in there anyway?_ she wondered.

The radio went silent again.

Jarvis came on the link and said, "Tac channel 3."

Kate checked the frequency card on her radio and saw it was actually just one down from where they were. She switched and heard Jarvis coordinating the assault of his squad on the structure in the middle of the building. The operation took them about ten minutes, and they had the bad guys cornered behind some refrigeration equipment. Kate keyed her radio and said, "Cane, do you have the path down the outside below them covered?"

"Yes, Detective."

"Can you get two people into the room directly below them to be sure they don't get away by cutting through the roof they are standing on into that room?"

"No, but two are on the way now coming up from the opposite direction." Kate looked out through the open side door and saw two figures in uniform heading towards the structure in the middle of the warehouse.

What was she missing? Something didn't feel right. She said, "Martin, if you hear this call me. Find out who owns this warehouse. There are too many people here. Something isn't making sense. ... Oh crap."

She keyed her radio and said, "Jarvis, how are you doing up there?"

"We have them pinned down but can't get any closer. Tear gas won't work, too open."

"Got a flash bang?"

"One."

"Use it if you can. Go in immediately after it goes off. We need to get you out of there ASAP."

Kate heard and saw the effects of the flash bang from where she stood, followed by two pistol shots and a short burst of screaming.

"Jarvis, talk to me. He answered, "We have one wounded, not badly; both are cuffed. That seems to be the rest of them."

"Grab them and get out of there as fast as you can. Cane, retreat out of the building now. Jarvis, talk to me, give me continual updates."

"I have one over my shoulder – little guy. Jones has the other. Going down ladder now." Kate heard sounds of heavy breathing followed by, "Heading down stairs ... Double timing for door."

"I see you," she said as they emerged from the warehouse, moving surprisingly rapidly. "Keep coming all the way over here. Davis, Gates, get back inside that other warehouse. Cain, your men all ou-"

There was a big explosion in the central storage area of the warehouse just vacated. Kate and Castle reflexively ducked as pieces of shrapnel and debris fell on the concrete between them and the other warehouse. Kate dashed out to see Jarvis on the ground and sprinted in his direction. She got him up, helped him lift up the wounded man and walked backwards covering their rear as she followed them to the warehouse. She keyed her radio, "We need a paramedic at my location ASAP. There might be another wounded man some place. Castle can you see him?"

"Yes, I'm on it ... I've got Jones and the other guy. We'll be there in a few seconds."

Kate wasn't worried for Castle; she thought the excitement was probably over. "Captain Davis, Captain Gates, I think the tactical situation is over. I'd highly recommend a team of CSI's, an explosive expert, and some narcotics officers. That final explosion was to cover up something. There has to be a reason this warehouse has a heliport and none of the others around here do. My guess, it's owned by Oxley or related to his illegal activities in some way. Most likely the opium trade. Would one of you please take over so I can get out of here?"

Captain Gates replied, "I'll take command. Captain Davis needs to get his crew cleaned up and ready to respond to the next event, whatever that might be."

Kate said, "Thank you. Captain Davis, Captain Gates, thank you both for the support. Beckett out."

She removed her headset and helmet camera, looked at Castle and said, "Rick, we need to get to the MCC, get the gear off and get back to the loft before they can scramble any assassins in our direction." She turned and jogged in the direction of the MCC.

She met up with Shaw at the Mobile Command Center, nodded to acknowledge her and said, "Get a chopper here. We need to get back to the loft ASAP."

Shaw said, "Already done. It's inbound now, ETA two minutes."

With no pause Kate asked, "Did Martin learn anything about the warehouse ownership?"

Shaw answered, "Yes, it's owned by a shell corporation that was originally chartered under a different name back in 1993 about the time the ransom money would have become available. This shell corporation owns Custody International. But you figured that out; that's why you had them get out? Why did you have them take the last two guys?"

"Oxley knew the agents on the roof were FBI. He wasn't going to blow them up, but he wasn't going to wait long either. If Jarvis and Jones had tried to run they'd have been shot. That he would have been okay with. It was a gunfight and shit happens. The explosion on the other hand would have been murder of a federal agent, and he didn't want to do that."

"Isn't going to help him anymore."

"When he figures he's going down, which will be very soon, he is going to lash out in every direction and try to leave the country. At this point I hope you have enough with what Maddox said to me to take him into custody and get a warrant for everything."

"We have enough for the warrant and passport revocation."

"I'd bet large he has several passports under several identities. He has to. He has to have been out of the country a lot more than his travel records as Oxley would lead us to believe. Look for times he was out of the news. Cross correlate travel records at that time, look for names that repeat, check death certificates. My guess is that you will find names traveling only during those times that are from people who died at or near birth."

Shaw looked at Beckett and said, "You are something else, Detective. I'm on it."

Kate looked over at Castle who had just finished turning in his gear, walked over, opened her arms and walked into his hug. She turned her head up for a kiss, and it turned out to be more passionate than she intended. Shaw cleared her throat, finally said, "Hey you two, I don't mind being right, but this is over-kill," and walked away chuckling as the helicopter descended to land.

Shaw called out, "Beckett! Castle! The ride to the bedroom has arrived, get in!"

Kate pulled back reluctantly and said softly, "Thanks for having my back out there."

Rick said, "Always. Now let's run to that machine and get out of here before they bring in stinger missiles."

Kate said, "Race you," and took off at a dead run that Castle had no chance of matching, so he didn't try, but he was there a few seconds after she climbed into the helicopter.

They got their harnesses fastened as the she heard the blades accelerate. Kate gave the pilot a thumbs up; he nodded, and they lifted off almost immediately. He tilted the chopper forward and accelerated between the warehouses just below the roof line till he was over the Hudson. Then stayed low, turned violently right, leveled out and ran down river for a mile or so before he climbed out and arced toward the loft. He said, "I was told you guys are targets; figured I'd make it difficult for them." Kate gave him a double thumbs up. He continued, "I picked you up from in front of the loft. Is there another way in?"

Castle said, "Yes, the garage entrance on the other side of the building."

The pilot nodded, pulled his microphone closer and started a conversation they couldn't' hear. A couple of minutes later he said, "I'll let you out right in front of the garage entrance. Move smartly, I don't want to be on the ground for more than thirty seconds. Hang on because this is going to be a rather hairy approach."

Kate thought, 'he's flying higher than I'd have thought we would.' She turned to Rick and said, "Rick, hang on with both hands. I think I know what he's going to do, read it in a book, and it's going to be a wild ride."

It was. The pilot rolled the chopper almost inverted as he pulled it around into a dive that arced down between the buildings with the blades shuddering up against being supersonic. He began hauling it out half a block away, flashed across the intersection, hauled it back and down with the tail rotor just off the street to touch down exactly in front of the garage door. Kate saw people dive for cover on both sidewalks. Castle was out almost before it finished settling; Kate was right behind him; the rotors had not really slowed down. They slammed the door, and as soon as they were clear of the rotors, the pilot lifted it off, flew down the street, lifted just enough to clear the traffic and lights. Last Kate saw of it, it was rising like a rocket; then she was inside the building.

They ran for the elevator. The rest of the trip to the loft was over before they knew it. When the elevator door opened they were lost in a major meltdown of a kiss. The officer guarding the floor said, "Detective Beckett, you have _got_ to get through that door … Detective … the door … over there."

Kate jerked back, turned flaming red, and then in a 'the hell with it' moment planted another quick kiss on Castle's lips. When that was over, she turned to the officer, whom she knew, and said with a grin, "Killing bad guys turns me on. Come on Castle," and tried to open the door.

They unlocked the door but couldn't get in because of the chains. Alexis said, "I'll get it Dad. Hang on a minute." She pulled the door open against the chains, looked to be sure it was them, closed the door to release the chains, opened it to let them in, then reclosed and locked it slipping the chains into place.

She turned and, face filled with emotion, opened her arms wide and dragged them both into a hug. She said, "I'm so glad you are back safe in one piece. I'm glad I could see what was happening, or at least what you could see. I'd have gone crazy not knowing. I saw that guy raise his rifle to shoot you; my heart literally stopped beating, and then you shot him first. Kate, you were awesome. It was amazing to see and hear you in action. I had no idea you could do what you did. Dad, you knew?"

"No, I didn't know she could do all that. I knew she had some tactical training, but I didn't know she was a tactical profiler, and if there isn't such a term I just invented it to describe her. I learn something new about this amazing woman every day." Castle placed an affectionate hand on Kate's shoulder. "She's right you know, Kate; you were freaking fantastic. You knew what they were going to do before they did it. It took me several minutes to catch up even after I saw what happened. I was no help at all."

Kate turned to him, tears running down her face, and said, "You have no idea how much help you were. I needed you there. You had my back the whole time. You left me free to focus, and you spotted those ropes coming out the windows while I was focused on the door across from us. I knew if I missed it, you would catch it. It gave me a huge advantage over them, Rick. We succeeded. The two of us. We are a team."

Alexis said, "Special Agent Martin and I have been working the board between being completely distracted by the reality TV show you guys provided. She has some interesting searches going but says they probably won't yield any results for several hours yet. There are just the four of us here now. She says the board will work unattended. Detectives Ryan and Esposito left a few minutes ago. It's after ten, how about we have a bite to eat and hit the sack?"

Kate leaned into Castle's arms and said, "I think that sounds like a heck of a good idea."

Alexis said, "Mom, a hug?"

Kate stepped forward to give her a hug. As they parted, Alexis pulled her head gently down and whispered in her ear, "I have the most awesome-kick-ass-tough-chick-ninja-mom on the planet!" and gave Kate a kiss on the cheek.

Kate replied in her ear, "And one of these days, Lex, I hope to have the most kick-ass-scary-smart-and-talented red-headed step-child on the planet."

Alexis gave her a final squeeze, backed away just enough, held up her hand for a high five, which they did, and said, "Bring it on! But feed me first," turned and almost ran to the kitchen.

Castle said, "What did she say?"

"That she hopes we get married."

"What did you say? "

"That I hope we get married."

Castle looked at her and said, "Katherine Beckett, will you marry me."

She looked at him, suddenly emotional with the magnitude of the moment washing over her so spontaneously and said, "Yes. Yes, Richard Alexander Rogers Castle, I will marry you and be your wife."

They looked at one another for a few seconds while what had just happened settled in on them. Their promises to each other had been spoken. They were now open, and real and forever. They simultaneously eased forward to share a tender, but extremely meaningful kiss.

Rick pulled her in and said, "Wow. I'm engaged to the extraordinary Katherine Beckett. I know this is real, but it is almost too good to be true."

"It's true, Castle. And I'm engaged to the most amazing man I've ever known. I love you, Rick Castle."

Rick looked at her and said, "We've got to catch these guys, I want to go buy a ring without having to wear a bullet proof vest or have a fighter escort."

Kate said, "Oh yeah. We'll get this done, Rick. We've got them on the run now. We need to track Oxley's other ID's, which gives me an idea - I need to talk to Kim. Come on, you help Alexis fix us something to eat. I'm going to see if I can find out a little more while I'm lean, mean, and hungry. This son-of-a-bitch is between me and my engagement ring. Bad place to be, Oxley. Be afraid; be _very_ afraid."

Rick chuckled, gave her a final squeeze and turned toward the kitchen.

# # #

Kate went over to join Martin at the board; Castle followed Alexis to the kitchen.

She said, "Hi, Kim, how are you holding up?"

"I should be asking you that. You go girl! You were all kinds of awesome. I couldn't predict your next move one time during that. How did you know what to do?"

"Truth be told, I almost screwed it up. It took me way too long to figure out what was special about that warehouse, and I nearly let them off the hook when I didn't stop Jarvis from coming out of the warehouse after we took down the first bunch."

"Detective, you told him to stay inside and clear the warehouse. He disobeyed and followed those guys outside to help take them down. I was surprised you weren't all over him."

"Kim, when you are in a fight to the death with bad guys, there is a lot going on. Your adrenaline is up, heart rate near 200, bullet waiting around every corner; what he did was perfectly normal. That is what I was there for: to guide them back on mission when the exigencies of battle pulled them off course. That's why I had to be outside to lead it, not inside the warehouse. Perspective is everything when the shit hits the fan."

"I haven't ever been in a fight like that," she said. "And I hope to never be. You had to shoot that guy that was running at you. That can't have been easy."

"It was easier than it usually is. A year and four months ago that guy, Maddox, shot me through the chest with a .308 sniper rifle while I was giving the eulogy at my Captain's funeral. I went through hell because of that till two days ago. Then he beat the crap out of me; threw me off a roof and left me hanging from a ledge. He looked at me, smiled, and walked away leaving me to fall to my death when my fingers gave out. Detective Ryan caught my arm and kept me from falling at the last fraction of a second."

"My God."

"That's the man I just killed. I don't like killing people, but I'm relieved Cole Maddox is dead. I also don't feel bad it was me that ended Cole Maddox's reign of terror. That said, I didn't go there to do that. If he'd stopped and dropped his weapon, he'd be alive now. His choice. He lost.

"Kim, change of subject, can you use some sort of image software, like what they use to age missing kids, to put Oxley in various disguises. Then run his face against airport security footage from Washington DC area and New York airports. I think he's been traveling out of the country on fake passports. I have two reasons for asking: first, I want to make sure we pick him up if he uses any aliases after Shaw pulls his passport; second, I want to see if we can use that to find any other trips he might have taken."

"Yes, I can, but to do that in any reasonable time I'm going to have to suck up one of NSA's big parallel processor farms for 8 to 12 hours to do image analysis. That's going to be a big expense. I think Shaw will definitely want to do it, but she's going to have to go upstairs to get permission. Let me give her a call."

"Okay, I'm going over to the kitchen; I think Rick and my future daughter are getting ready to celebrate our engagement."

"Your what? You just got engaged? Richard Castle asked you to marry him?"

"Richard Alexander Rogers Castle did. I said yes."

"Oh my gosh," she jumped up and gave Kate a hug that made Kate flinch.

Kim jumped back, and Kate said, "It's not you. The idea of the hug is okay. I'm just still really sore and bruised from the beating Maddox gave me. Then I didn't help it any when I grabbed Jarvis and helped haul the other wounded guy to shelter."

"Kate, do you need a doctor?"

"No, but," she stepped toward Martin and gave her a gentle hug, "That's for caring. Wanna join my engagement party?"

"Heck yes. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. How are you so calm?"

"I'm not, but if I let myself go, we'll miss the party if you know what I mean."

"I do. Hang on, girl. I'll call Shaw and then come celebrate."

Kate walked to the kitchen to see a bottle of champagne and some sandwiches taking shape. Alexis said, "I managed to get some corned beef to make sandwiches with while you were gone, some fresh bread, too. The meat guy got the bread for me, and Jenny picked it up and brought it by. Esposito and Ryan already had a sandwich." Then unable to contain herself any longer she squealed, ran to Kate, remembered just in time, and gave her as much hug as she dared. "You really are going to be my Mom. Officially. I love you. I love how happy you made my Dad. And I think you are freaking awesome in so many ways I can't count them. Grams is going to think this is wonderful."

Kate couldn't stop tears of happiness and said, "Thank you Alexis. That means more to me than you will ever know."

Castle said, "How about a toast?" And a little louder, "Kim, please come and join us for a toast." Kim joined them; Rick handed out flutes of champagne including one for Alexis saying, "Alexis, neither of these good officers of the law will arrest you for having a real toast to our engagement."

Kate said, "Absolutely right."

Rick held up his glass and said, "Kate, here is to always. Because that's my commitment."

"Always, Rick."

With that they all clinked and had a sip.

The toast seemed to break all the tension of the day; it washed out of Kate with the first sip. She felt the peace of being with him all over again.

The snack was enjoyable. The sandwiches were delicious. They only drank half the bottle because neither of them wanted to dull their senses. About half-an-hour after the toast, Rick and Kate took their leave. Alexis and Kim were chatting about the murder board and cleaning up the kitchen when they left.

Kate said, "Rick, I need a quick shower, then I want to snuggle and fall asleep in your arms. You up for that?"

"Is the shower co-ed?"

"So is the snuggle."

06/08/2012

**EN: Please leave a comment. Feedback is essential to the learning process.**


	13. To the Brink

Castle After 4x23 / FW

13 **Once again, many thanks to PatriciaLouise and Gwynne for their help, patience, and mentoring this new writer. **

**I own nothing. The characters from the TV show "Castle" belong to whoever owns that property. I'm just having fun playing with them. **

**Chapter 13 – To the Brink**

Kate drifted into wakefulness slowly. She smelled coffee, so it had to be morning, but with the new concrete window, exactly zero light came into the bedroom. _Our bedroom, _she thought. _I'm home, I'm actually home, here, all tangled up with my fiancée._ She let her mind wander through her body without opening her eyes. She had her head on his chest; her naked body lay half on his chest with their legs all tangled up. Somehow it was perfect. It felt like she'd just closed her eyes a few seconds ago, and now it was morning. She tried to remember the last time she'd slept without dreaming and couldn't. The rest felt really good.

She must have moved because she felt his breathing change, and his hands move to slide around her waist and gently up her back. She sighed and moved her head just a tiny bit to signal her appreciation. They lay like that for a while; then there was a gentle knock on the door. Alexis said, "Good morning. It's six o'clock. Agent Shaw will be here at seven or earlier. She e-mailed Agent Martin that she has some great results from a computer search Mom wanted her to get authorized. I'll set the coffee on the desk and shut the office door so you can come and get it."

Kate said, "Thanks Lex. And a good morning to you too."

She started to move, but Rick's arms around her waist held her there. He said, "Release comes with a price sweetheart."

She raised her head and moved up for a kiss that almost resulted in them not getting up. But she managed to escape, turned on a light, went to the door, opened it, saw the office door closed, streaked out to pick up their coffee, came back, closed the door and set Rick's coffee on the dresser. She knew if she handed it to him he'd drink it in bed.

Rick signed and said, "I'm being conspired against by my daughter and my fiancée."

Kate said, "No dear, you are being lured into the day with the smell of delicious coffee and the prospect of a stimulating shower with said fiancée, but only if you hurry. She barely got into the bathroom and got the water turned on before he arrived, coffee in hand. She said, "Just a minute, got to brush teeth."

He did the same. They had another sip of coffee, and he followed her into the shower.

They were finishing breakfast when Kate got a call from the detail on the door that Agent Shaw was on the way up.

Kate headed for the door, went through the routine, closed and locked the door when Shaw was inside. Shaw saw the gun in the shoulder holster and nodded approvingly. She nodded again when she saw Castle with a gun on his hip in an outside the waist band holster. She almost looked for one on Alexis but realized it would be foolish. Alexis must have read her mind because she said, "I have a shotgun in the bedroom," and grinned.

Alexis poured a cup of coffee for Agent Shaw and brought it to her while the others gathered in front of the murder board. Shaw said, "Thanks, Alexis. How are you doing after watching the reality TV yesterday?"

"I learned a lot but mostly what an extraordinary woman Detective Beckett is."

"She is that," Shaw said. She walked over to join the others at the board. Alexis trailed along still nursing her first cup of coffee.

# # #

Agent Martin had just brought up the records from the search for Oxley in airport and TSA video records. It had found over a hundred probable trips with four aliases. Shaw had already issued a notice to forbid foreign travel by any of those aliases, one of which was an English passport. Looking at the pictures Oxley was easily recognizable to people trained to see through disguises like Shaw was.

After she was called in the middle of the night with the results, Shaw had them run the trips against the timeline for the Custody International Corporation. She learned they almost all coincided with the company having a major new assignment in the sandbox or major infusions of cash.

Kate asked, "How are we doing on a warrant for everything …"

"Up to and including a proctologist?" finished Shaw.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Kate responded, and then continued, "How do we proceed?"

Shaw asked, "Can you have Ryan at one site, Esposito at another and Hastings at a third by 9:00 AM?"

"Sure, where."

"I'd suggest Esposito plus two Marshals meet the team of FBI lawyers at Custody International HQ. They are going in and collect everything. They are taking a 24 foot van body truck to hold it all. I want Esposito there, in TAC Vest like you had on last night, with an M4 and a helmet cam. I realize SWAT could do it, but Espo might recognize some of the people, and if he does, I want to capture them on the video with his voice over."

"No problem. Give me a minute." Kate walked away, called Espo, told him the news. Got his concurrence. She returned to ask, "Okay, where is Ryan going?"

Shaw answered, "To the first Federal Bank of Manhattan where Custody International does all its banking of record and has safety deposit boxes."

"Can do." She made the call, and then asked, "How about Hastings?"

"I want her to be with the FBI agents when they serve the search warrant on his house this morning. I have a warrant based on the search results from last night. I don't know who else to trust from the NYPD at the moment, other than Lieutenant Cane, and I don't want to bother him with this. While she is there, I want her to go through the house and feel all the clothes looking for explosives. If he has anything hidden there, I don't want it blown up by a gas leak or something before we can get it entered in evidence."

"I can do that too."

Kate made the call to Hastings who said, "Oh yeah! Definitely! I'm itching for some action after watching your take down at the warehouse on TV at the Twelfth."

Back to Shaw she said, "Where are you taking Oxley for interrogation?"

"Solitary at Rikers with Federal Marshals as the only guards in his section. I'm going to keep him there through the trial if I can, unless we take him directly to ADX Florence and hold the trial there."

Shaw continued, "Here's hoping the forensic accountants from Quantico are able to untangle 30 years of deceit and double dealing. Our best hope is that he got arrogant and left some openings in his cover."

Rick left to get a cup of coffee. Beckett saw him talking on the phone but didn't think anything of it.

Shaw left to take care of details associated with all the seizures. Martin was at work on the board with Alexis by her side. Kate actually had some time to sit and contemplate the momentous last few days. She still felt like she needed to pinch herself. There had been the terrible fight with Castle that left him little choice except to walk away. Then she had been beaten up and left to hang by her fingertips from a ledge. Once rescued, she had run through the rain to Castle and thrown herself at him, dripping wet. The thrill of their first union still left her weak as did the hail of gunfire that followed. Next came the avalanche of progress that broke the case wide open and led to the warehouse takedown and Cole Maddox – dead by her hand. Add getting engaged, and it was enough to leave her stunned.

Castle came over to stand beside her. She felt for and held his hand as they looked at the murder board.

He said, "We seem to be getting a little break. I think we are almost at the point where the army of FBI lawyers can take this over and move it out of here. At this point there can't be much of Oxley's army left."

"Let's don't count him out yet, Castle. I see in that report Kim just brought up there is nearly a billion dollars in off-shore accounts linked through Custody International and another company, Ox Ventures International. He may have resources we can't even imagine. I'm not going out there yet, Castle."

"That's fine; I have him coming here anyway."

"Who's coming here?"

"My jeweler guy. I told him it would be safe; the place is guarded like Fort Knox."

"Your jeweler guy?"

"Yes, I asked him to bring some samples and a book of designs so 'we' can pick out an engagement ring for you."

"Rick, you don't need to go overboard here. The only thing I need out of this engagement is to have it end with you as my husband."

"You will get your wish. I have a wish too."

"What is that?"

"I want to spoil you with an engagement ring and surprise you with presents you would never buy yourself but which you will like."

"Like what presents?"

"The ones I'm going to surprise you with. Surprise being the operative word, Kate."

"Rick, please let me participate in decisions related to our life together: where we live, what we drive, where we go on vacations. I want to be an equal partner in managing our lives together."

"I absolutely will. The first step is to have you participate in picking your engagement ring," he said, followed by an 'I got ya' smile.

Kate sighed. She could tell she wasn't going to win this one, _and besides, what's wrong with a little bling?_ Castle's phone rang; he showed Kate it was from the detail at the front door and put it on speaker. She heard there was a jeweler to see him. Was he expecting this and should he be shown up? Castle had replied to send him up.

What followed was an hour session with the jeweler that took Kate's breath away. He left with a design for an engagement ring that blew Kate's mind. She had no idea what it was going to cost and was certain Rick would go to extreme lengths to keep the number from her. At some point she decided to just sit back and enjoy the ride. After that, she found she enjoyed the process a lot. In the end it was a ring design that literally had her heart thumping like it might jump out of her chest.

She asked, "Rick, do we have to have a celebrity wedding, or can we just elope to Vegas? Or is it possible to have a small wedding with just family some secret place the press never heard of?"

"Kate, this is going to be your one and only wedding ever. I want it to be special in a way you will cherish the memory every day of the rest of your life."

"I will; you will be the lifelong symbol of that wedding. The only outcome I care about is that when it's over I'm your wife and you are my husband."

"If I guarantee that outcome, can I have a little freedom to work with?"

"Yes, but I want to be in on the decisions."

The laughter in his eyes gave away the tease in his words. "You have already been in on it. You determined we needed to be husband and wife when it was over. I guaranteed that result. Rest is up to me."

"Riiiiiiiiick."

"Yes, you will be in on it. But there is one more rule. I'm paying for the wedding. You buy your dress. I'll take care of the rest. Deal?"

"Deal." She paused and said, "You will manage the publicity too? I don't want it to be a media circus. I want dignity, respect, and focus on us. I guess I have more requirements than just ending up married. Style counts too Rick."

"For me too Kate. For me too."

Gates called mid-morning to say, "Detective Esposito's helmet cam got good pictures of several men that he is pretty sure he'd seen in Iraq. They are on their way to Martin. Hopefully we can get something on them that we can bargain away in return for answers."

Kate said, "Thanks. I'll be on the lookout for them."

Castle said, "You've lost interest in this, haven't you?"

Kate said, "No, but so much of it is beyond what I can do now. I saw the patterns and possibilities, but the nitty gritty hands on skills to run down the details and link them all together on this scale I don't have. To me, they are using technology sufficiently advanced to appear as magic. I come up with the questions or possibilities; they use magic to get the answers. Where's the fun in that? I like it when I can track the perps down like we've been doing together for the last four years. Leading the data munching herd feeding an army of lawyers isn't my cup of tea."

"But you realize you do what you do better than anybody else on this investigation, including Shaw and I, right?"

"Castle, you came up with the whole hypothetical criminal history for our Unsub, and it was dead, nuts, right, freaking on. So far nothing has deviated from it. That's amazing, scary good, brilliant, conceptual magic. I couldn't do that. You are a writer that thinks like a gifted cop. You imagined a story within the constraints of the real timeline that fit all the facts. I'm still blown away by that. It's what makes us such a good team. Gates finally got her focus outside herself and had a chance to see each of us at our best. It's why she is going to want both of us back."

"Do you want to go back?"

"Not on the same terms, but I'm not sure what the new terms would be either. It's percolating in the back of my head for now."

"I can work with that."

Alexis had apparently heard some significant part of what they said because she came over and said, "Detective Beckett, Kate, Mom, I love all three of you. Whatever you want to do is good with me. But I have to say, last night you were incredible. You blew my mind. You blew Agent Martin's mind too. Just when I thought I'd seen it all you picked up on something new. When this is over, you ought to write your real story, the definitive book on this evil empire and its leader. You have lived the story, seen it from the inside out. Like it or not, you are a law enforcement legend in your own time. It would sell a bazillion copies."

Kate said, "I might be able to do that, but I'd have to be back working to do it with credibility."

Alexis thought a moment and said, "No, you wouldn't. Your credibility would be rock solid after the first paragraph. I could write one that started with you lying on your back in the cemetery with a bullet through your chest and part of your heart that would have the reader with their forehead and nose plastered to the book clawing for the next page. It's that kind of story. You could too. After the news story of Oxley's arrest breaks, with the newspaper story in one hand, badge in the other, gun peeking out of your jacket in a shoulder holster, and Dad as a reference, you could name your price."

Kate looked at Rick for conformation. He nodded and said, "She's got it exactly right. It wouldn't be as easy to write as you might think, but it would be a runaway best seller, especially if you keep your head in the game and put the cuffs on this guy. It doesn't have to be long. Seventy-five to a hundred thousand words would do the story justice. It wouldn't take too long, three months maybe, if you took two months of leave and then worked part time while you wrote the rest of it. I'd be happy to help edit it for you, but you would be better off with a good non-fiction editor - I know a couple. You could buy your own Ferrari and three apartments like this loft with the advance and a big house in the Hamptons when it was done, if you wanted to."

Kate said, "I sort of thought you would write that book."

Rick said, "If you want to do it, you are so much better for it than I am. I'm close to the story, but I'm outside it. You are as much the story as Oxley. You can write the inside story better than anyone on the planet, bar none. No way would I step in front of that. But the story really should be told, and told by you. If it came out during the trial, which will take a while unless he confesses, it would sell so many copies it would make your head swim. Be an NYT best seller for weeks and then some. With a good non-fiction editor, and I know some, it would probably sell ten million copies in the first six months. I'd be waiting in the wings at _your_ promotional tours. And you can count on someone willing to pay a truck load of gold for the movie rights."

Kate said, "Well, all right then," picked up her phone and dialed Shaw. When she answered she asked, "Can I be there and put the cuffs on Oxley?"

Shaw said, "I thought you would never ask. Hell yes. You took down Maddox, and you should put the cuffs on Oxley. Absolutely. I'll make arrangements. Be ready to go in the next half hour. I'll have our favorite chopper pilot land by the garage entrance to pick you up - I'll have Jarvis and Jones, you know them both, waiting at the garage door; your gear will be in the chopper. If you want to bring Castle you can, but I'd rather it was just you. He's in town; we have him under surveillance. I don't think he will resist, but if he does, I want it to be all sworn law enforcement just to avoid any hint of impropriety. Jarvis will be there with eight of his guys and several Federal Marshals to block escape routes. I'll tell him you are coming. He'll like that."

"Vest, drop holster, I'll be in jeans. SOB doesn't rate a suit. Thanks. I'll be ready."

She turned to Castle and said, "I'm going to put the cuffs on the son-of-a-bitch. Jarvis will be there, he'll have a vest cam on. We should get good coverage," she paused a moment and added, "Rick, Shaw said you could be there, but she'd rather you weren't. You okay with that?"

"Yes, this one time, I'm good with it if you are going to write the book. Deal?"

Kate said, "Your fiancée is about to become an author."

Castle and Alexis held up their hands for a hi-five; she did them both at once.

She said, "I'm going to wear comfortable jeans, open collar button shirt, vest, drop holster, and an ankle holster with the Glock 26 for backup. Shaw and company will have on suits; Jarvis will be in HRT gear. I don't want to dignify him with a suit. I want to haul him in on a common criminal perp walk with HRT on either side. If they ask me for a statement afterwards I can hardly wait to hear what I tell them."

Castle said, "Works for me. Just come back in one piece."

"I will. I'm taking no chances with these guys. They may look like office pussies, but I'm guessing there are at least two, maybe three, elite combat vets on his office staff. Jarvis, Jones and I will know them when we see them. We'll do a tactical plan in the chopper. I want to go in there guns drawn for tactical reasons. Those guys will be armed. They probably won't resist; they should be too smart for that. With their boss being arrested, they are probably out of it free and clear as long as they don't resist."

Martin who had come over after getting a call from Shaw said, "I think you are right. I've been on a couple of hi-profile busts; they usually come quietly, but having the guns out and being ready does a lot to motivate the come quietly mindset. I'll capture Jarvis's video and all the audio I can. And, Kate, if I can help in any way with that book you were talking about, you let me know. I don't want any mention or credit for anything, but if I can help you in any way, I'd be honored."

Kate looked at her for a moment and saw nothing but sincerity in her offer. She replied, "I will probably take you up on that offer – especially given your history with white collar crime."

Martin blinked, and Kate said, "I looked you up. You are an impressive person Kim Martin. I really appreciate your offer."

Martin said, "Thanks, you better get ready; you need to be down stairs in fifteen minutes. Jarvis and Jones will meet you right outside the loft door here and be your escort. Shaw says you are still a target, but she wants you to put the cuffs on the guy."

Kate said, "Right. I'm on it, as they say," turned and headed into the bedroom.

Back in five minutes with her Glock 26 in the Galco ankle holster with over the calf support strap covered by a second sock, the button shirt and her vest, she figured she was ready. She was shocked that there was a knock on the door so went to answer it. It was Jarvis and Jones. She went through the routine to check and clear before letting them in. When the door was opened Jarvis said, "I'd offer to shake hands, but they are full; here's your gear."

Kate quickly stripped off her vest, put on a TAC vest with chest plates like she had on the night before, a similar drop holster that came with a Glock 19 already in it. She pulled the Glock out, popped the clip and checked that it was full. She grinned at Jarvis and said, "Never holster an empty gun." He nodded in agreement. To further check the status of her firearm she let her forefinger slide over the extractor. It protruded to indicate a full chamber, but she double checked and looked for the telltale glint of nickel or brass between the end of the barrel and the chamber face. Satisfied that all was in order, she slid it back in the holster.

Jarvis said, "Want a backup?"

Kate lifted her left ankle a bit and said, "Glock 26 in ankle holster." Then she pulled the spare magazines, checked that they were full, and slid them back into the holders on the vest. The vest was equipped with a radio. She looked at Jarvis and said, "TAC channels plus general?"

He nodded. She removed the cuffs from both cuff holders and checked them; they were ready to go. She nodded to him, turned to Castle, stepped over, give him a kiss and said, "I'll be back when he's in a cage."

Castle said, "Go do this."

She answered, "I will. Lex, you should get another round of reality TV, hopefully less exciting this time."

Alexis grabbed her hand, gave it a squeeze and said, "Go be your awesome self, then come back to us."

Kate said, "I will," turned and said to Jarvis, "Let's do this."

He turned on his heel, and they left to meet up with Jones outside the door. Jarvis took the point; Jones took up the rear, and Kate was in the middle.

They approached the garage door, and Jarvis had Kate stay back out of sight. Jarvis said, "I have SUV's waiting out front. We came in that way. They are the decoy. The pilot, same one as last time, is coming in opposite from his approach last night and will land right outside the door here. Traffic will be stopped when he's about thirty seconds from landing. We should be in and off the ground in well under a minute. It's a tactical chopper, Huey with no doors. Jones will go first. You follow right behind him. Just jump in and grab any one of the handholds and hang on; he's not going to wait for belts. Jones and I won't let you fall out. We practice this all the time."

Kate said, "Got it. This will be new, but I understand what you need me to do. Just grab the vest and don't let go. If I flinch ignore it; I'm pretty badly beat up, but I'll get over it."

"Who did that?" Jarvis asked.

"Maddox," she replied with evident satisfaction.

"Oxley should have left you alone," Jarvis said. "That's probably why Shaw said to tell you she would really like to get him in court if that's feasible. He can bleed, but he needs to be alive."

Kate said, "I'll keep him alive one way or the other-"

"Our ride's here," Jarvis said. "Jones?"

Jones eased to the door, looked out and said, "NYPD just blocked the street, and here he comes. That guy is a show off, but he's really good. Get behind me, Detective, we move in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, NOW! GO! GO! GO!"

Kate got right behind him poised to go and was ran in step right behind him. She stayed right with him as he ran to where the chopper had just settled onto the street. Jones jumped into the chopper and had his hand back for Beckett in time to help her the last foot up into the chopper with Jarvis literally right at her back. She hadn't even gotten to the seat before she felt the chopper lift off at full throttle, tilt radically forward and accelerate down the street. It transitioned to a steep climb just before it appeared briefly at the cross street and then turned hard right as they cleared the building on that side. Jarvis and Jones had their arms joined in front of her as she grabbed the seat to hold on, surprised she wasn't thrown sideways.

When they leveled out at what she thought was a couple thousand feet up, she took a quick look around. She shouted to the pilot, the same one as last night, "You love having the excuse to do that, don't you."

"You have no idea, Detective. You are becoming my favorite passenger. I can have all sorts of fun when I fly you."

"Hopefully the excuse won't be valid all that much longer. But I wouldn't be surprised if it lasts another couple or three weeks. We will get the top guy in custody today, but the rest of the hydra isn't going to die quietly. We'll get them though. One at a time."

Jarvis said, "I heard a little of your story last night. You should write a book. I'd read it."

Kate said, "You are the third person to say that today."

"Who were the others?"

"My fiancée and my future daughter." She couldn't bring herself to say step-daughter.

"You going to do it?"

"I think so. I have a really good contact in the publishing business."

"In that case, let's make this bust a good one. Shaw said she wanted you to put the cuffs on the guy. After you saved our collective asses last night, I'm good with whatever you want. We owe you big time."

"Thanks, but you need to put everything except taking this guy out of your heads. There will be at least two or three of his elite troop bodyguards in the office looking normal. He may have some female troops. You should be able to spot them. They will be the guys that move like martial arts experts dressed in suits with those stealth kick-your-ass-into-next-year bodies if you know what I mean. Agent Jarvis, I'd like you to have two of your guys be first in, you and Jones second. I'll follow you. I'd like to have two more behind me. You follow the standard FBI clearing routine; I've practiced it at TAC School, but I'll be in the middle. We need to take a quick look at the floor plan-"

Jarvis felt in a pocket in his vest, removed a folded piece of paper and said, "Hang on to this; it's breezy in here. Kate took it, gave it a quick look and said, "I'll study it when we are on the ground. Might make me airsick to do that now, and we don't need that."

She stuffed it in one of her own vest pockets and pushed the Velcro tight to close it.

Then she continued, "I'll press toward whatever room he's expected to be in; your two front men peel off to contain the first room; you and Jones work into the last room with me, the guys behind me can contain a second room if we have to pass through it on the way to him. I want you, Jones, and me in the room where we take him down. He's in shape, works out, not your standard paunchy congressional couch potato. I can handle him if it goes fast. The vest will keep him from landing blows where I'm already sore. We good?"

Jarvis and Jones nodded to each other. Jarvis said, "That's exactly how we talked about it. We have orders from Shaw to make damn sure nothing happens to you. Your plan is just fine. We're good, but we will have four men behind you, not two."

Kate said, "That works."

The chopper leveled out and started to slow down. The pilot turned and said, "I'm waiting for the go signal. We practiced this yesterday. The NYPD SWAT will block the street and all building entrances at T minus 30 seconds. There are already two of them on the roof of the building. We put them there early this morning, so nobody has seen them go up there. NYPD came in underground to the parking garage a few minutes ago. So far there has been nothing visible on the street. We will land on the roof; choppers do that all the time so it won't get anybody's attention. I'll come in through their blind spot where they can't see what sort of chopper is approaching. The guy on the roof will take out the helipad camera when we get the go signal.

"I'll wait on the helipad for you to return; the HRT guy on the roof will be my security, I'll have the rotor spun up, so when you throw the prisoner in, we can strap him and leave. Detective, I want HRT on either side of him; you get in the other front seat. You ready?

"Oh yeah! Got it. Jarvis, where are the rest of our entry team?"

"In an insurance office that's located between where we enter the hall from the stairs and the entrance to Oxley's office. They've been there since two AM. Take a look at that paper as soon as you can; we won't have much time once we land."

Kate notice the chopper was flying much more slowly, so she pulled it out and studied the floor plan. She saw they would have to clear two rooms and block the hallway. With the extra two men Jarvis planned on, that should be a piece of cake, even with resistance. The guys in the office wouldn't be geared up like the HRT guys and she were.

The pilot turned and said, "It's on!" and the chopper angled toward the building Jarvis had pointed out from about a mile away. They were over the helipad settling in with the HRT officer standing by the stairs forty-five seconds later. Kate shifted her grip to jump from the chopper.

06/08/2012

**EN: Please leave a comment or review. Feedback is a vital part of the learning process. Thanks.**


	14. Gotcha!

Castle After 4x23 / FW

12 **AN: Thanks to PatriciaLouise and Gwynne for their patient mentoring through this process. **

**I own nothing. Andrew Marlow and company own the characters from the Castle TV show, but I do have fun taking them out and playing with them. Counting down to September 24 when CASTLE starts season 5.**

**Chapter 14 – Gotcha!**

Kate felt herself put on a mission face and experienced the surge of adrenaline that always preceded an entry mission like this. Maybe it hit her a little more this time. Jarvis' hand aided her as she followed him out the side of the chopper. She landed just past the skid and sprinted behind him as Jones slid in easily at their rear. They went down the stairs, through the door the HRT officer had blocked open and headed down the stairs. Kate tried to move without thudding which was easier for her in her running shoes than for them in boots, but they were surprisingly quiet. She thought, _they move really well. _It boosted her confidence because it spoke of the skill and training they brought to the engagement.

Once in the door, they had to rapidly descend two floors, enter the hallway and turn right. At that point, they would be between Oxley's office and all the exits from the building. As they emerged into the hallway, they slowed to a walk to avoid vibrations from running alerting the quarry. She saw the HRT guys exit the insurance office. Two of them stepped in front to join the group. Jones moved around Kate to pair up with Jarvis, 4 more fell in behind Kate, two more stayed in the hallway as a rear guard. Kate heartily approved of the way this was being set up. She was tired of the enemy being underestimated. Apparently so was Jarvis because he was taking no chances. It was a no knock warrant.

The front two guys opened the door and shouted "FBI! On the floor! Keep hands where we can see them."

Kate saw four people in the room: two females with muscled arms, two young fit males. The closest female didn't blink and attacked the front man on the right in front of Jarvis. He butt stroked her into unconsciousness with his M4. As she fell back, the other one pulled out a pistol but died of two bullet holes in the chest from Jarvis silenced M4 Carbine before she got it pointed in their direction.

On the other side, the two men were running at them to be met by Jones and the other front man. Kate remained peripherally aware of that fight as she stepped over to fill in next to Jarvis. Her Glock was aimed directly at the door in front of them. She flicked a glance at the two women on the floor; she knew one of the four behind her would take care of them, and another would help handle the two men if it was needed. Two silenced shots caused her to look and see one of the men fall while the other tried to stop with his empty hands over his head.

Kate stepped to one side and let one of the rear guard past her as Jarvis hesitated; then they were through the door to the foyer of Oxley's office. The staff there offered no immediate resistance; one of the guys behind peeled off to cover them while Kate, Jarvis, and the other man in front of her went through the door. Oxley was already on his feet; the visitor across the desk from him had a shocked expression on his face as they burst into the room.

The situation started to deteriorate right then. Jarvis semi tripped on a throw rug to Kate's right. The other man made the mistake of looking at Jarvis which gave Oxley a chance to go for a gun. Kate saw all this in slow motion, moved her gun to point at his face and shouted, "Make my day, asshole!"

Oxley froze, and Kate dove across the desk, knocked his gun away and tackled him onto the floor. He punched at her but hit the ceramic plate in the vest and cried out because his hand smashed when he did that. With him stunned for a moment, Kate was able to smash his face into the floor, land a knee on his back, get his good arm behind his back, slip a cuff on it, then grab the injured one and finish cuffing him. She took out a second set of cuffs and cuffed his cuffs to his belt.

That done she felt an arm lift her off him; it was Jarvis. She shook her head and said, "I got this."

She grabbed Oxley's ear in her hand, dug her nails into it and literally jerked him to his feet. He made every effort to help and keep his ear from being torn off. She said, "Congressman Oxley, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You are entitled to have an attorney present during questioning. If you can't afford one, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights I've explained to you?"

Oxley just looked at her and started to spit in her direction. Kate kneed him in the groin. It bent him violently forward to spit on the floor. She said, "Don't try to spit on me again. Jarvis, you have some tape for his mouth."

Jarvis appeared with tape and wrapped it around Oxley's face before he could get erect again. Oxley glared at her, but Kate just said, "Let's get this criminal out of here."

Jarvis led the way out through the office which was completely under the control of the HRT. When they got to the hallway, Kate saw all sorts of suits, led by Shaw, with boxes. As she passed Shaw they did a hi-five. Then they were on the stairs. The big HRT guys wafted Oxley up the steps and to the chopper in less than a minute. Kate barely had time to get in the front seat when it lifted off. She fastened her belt and turned to see Oxley looking like his eyes would explode from his head. She grinned at him and said, "A bullet through your chest, or being repeatedly stabbed in the gut would work for me, but the living death you have in front of you at the ADX SuperMax in Florence, Colorado is even better. You realize you are going to live in a small white room; your food will be passed in through a hole. You will get out of the room for one hour a day to walk alone in a featureless white hall, and then go back in till the next day. Your days will be like that day, after day, after day for the rest of your life. You will get free medical care to make sure you live as long as possible. We'll all be out here living our lives. You will be in there. Forgotten. Nobody will even think about you. I'm going to write a book about my life and how I brought you down. One skinny nothing female Detective and I brought you down. I'm going to tell my story with you as the butt of the joke while you live like a bug in a Petri dish with no hope of escape."

With the tape still in place, Oxley couldn't do anything but make noises with his eyes bulging in rage.

Kate asked the pilot, "Where are we taking him? Rikers?"

"Yes, Rikers. I don't know beyond that."

Jarvis answered, "For now, they have cleared an adjacent set of three solitary cells; they will put him in the middle one. Where we are landing, we will be met by Federal Marshals who will take him to his cell. The prison staff will have exactly zero contact with him. He will be guarded full time by the Federal Marshals Shaw brought in. All medical treatment will be done there by a special outside doctor also brought in by Shaw. He will be on suicide watch on camera 24/7. We will have people within thirty seconds of his cell door if he tries anything stupid, but far enough away he can't talk to them. His food will come through a hole in the door SuperMax style.

"It will help him transition to a life of isolation, but first he has to go through a period of absolute humiliation while we damn him with all the evidence Shaw's team has uncovered in the last twenty-four hours, and will uncover over the next several months. She already has a list of over a hundred charges with almost a thousand years of prison time plus life without parole. He will also be charged with first degree murder in the deaths of all those who tried to fight for him and died doing it, like Maddox. They are literally going to throw away the key. She found some of his money in the Cayman Islands – almost half a billion dollars. All his accounts are frozen, and they are looking for more. He's probably going to have to have a lawyer appointed for him by the court; he won't be able to afford one. Four of the charges including the first one he is likely to be tried on are eligible for the death penalty. If he pleads guilty, he'll get the death sentence. If he goes to trial, he'll get the death sentence; it will just take longer."

Kate said, as if Oxley wasn't even there, "He's going to give a whole new meaning to living dead," and turned around in her seat. She said to the pilot, "It's a nice day. I think the forecast is for the next several to be nice. I'm looking forward to the weekend and maybe getting out some place. Picnic in the park maybe. You and your family ever do that?"

"Not in Central Park; I live in Arizona. Shaw had me brought in here because I've never worked east of the Mississippi. Same is true of all the guys on the teams yesterday and today. No chance of us being on that slime's payroll. I pity the people that are, and I'm sure there are a bunch with all the stuff he's gotten away with. Shaw will crush them like bugs."

Kate continued to look around outside the bird, saw something that got her attention but decided not to mention it right then and instead continued, "I'm sure she will. Jarvis, how do we do the exfil?" He answered, "We practiced it last night. I get out on this side; we take him out behind me, Jones behind him. You stay right there. We will turn him over to the waiting Federal Marshals and join you back in the chopper. We are planning on being on the roof for less than a minute. We have scrambled two fighters armed with rockets and have them orbiting overhead. If anybody gets the bright idea to rescue him with a paramilitary op, we'll just shoot them down. Chopper vs. F15 is no contest. None at all. Bugs on the windshield so to speak. But you know that, don't you scumbag?" Oxley made all sorts of noises, looking like his red face would explode. Jarvis added, "I'll take that as a yes. Oh, and they will be within five seconds of us the whole trip back."

Kate could see Rikers and noticed the pilot wasn't taking a straight in but swinging around to come in headed back the way they came. She asked, "Are we on downwind now?"

The pilot nodded and pressed the comm. button on the stick to announce their imminent landing and clear it with the prison guard staff. He received permission, turned into the wind and continued his approach. It wasn't as spectacular as his approach to the garage door last night, but it was still at least an E-ticket ride. He ended the maneuver about a foot off the deck and settled to barely touch. With the chopper stable, Jarvis jumped out dragging Oxley behind him. Jones was right behind Oxley and they moved him rapidly toward the Federal Marshals at the top of the stairs. Jarvis checked their ID's, signed the paper they held out, took a copy, and without looking back jogged back to the helicopter diving in the back just as the pilot lifted back off the helipad.

Kate asked, "Are the jets still with us?"

"Yes, they will be with me till you are back on the ground in a building."

Kate said, "Good because I think we have company. Didn't want to give him the satisfaction, so I didn't mention it before."

Her remark had heads swiveling all over the place, so she pointed and said, "That dot has been tracking us since we left Oxley's office building. It never changed distance till now, and it's getting closer fast."

The chopper pilot pressed the comm. button on the stick, and though she couldn't hear what he said, it apparently called in the jets because one of them made a hot pass between them and the dot which had become recognizable as a helicopter. The chopper pilot got agitated when some alarms went off on the dash, maneuvered quickly to change altitude and head away from the dot while the jets made another pass. The dot turned away from them and headed towards shore with the jets apparently telling it where to go, and what they would do if it didn't.

Their pilot relaxed, looked at Beckett and said, "Good eye. He was armed with some sort of missile; my sensors picked up its targeting system, that's what the alarms were. If you hadn't warned me, they'd have gotten off a shot. The fighter jocks told them to turn it off or be shot down. They turned it off. They are going to be in jail for a while, or maybe forever."

# # #

Kate thought aloud, "I can't understand why his people are still doing this. What do they have to gain by shooting us down? They ought to be trying to escape and evade. Take the money and run. He isn't even here to rescue even if he survived a missile attack. We unloaded him at Rikers. They know he isn't in here. So why?"

Then it occurred to her, "He has partners! That's the only thing that makes sense." She dialed Shaw and said, "Oxley's got partners. The partners are continuing the pursuit of me; they just sent a missile armed chopper after me. We need to figure out who they are ASAP and take them down. How many people can you put on the hard disks and e-mail messages on their office computers? Also take a look at the cell traffic patterns. Maybe there is a number in there that will guide us in the right direction."

Shaw said, "I'm certain you are right. We need to get you back to the loft. You and Martin see what you can figure out. I'll keep an army of folks on the mountain of documents we seized today. Clearly time is of the essence. FYI: I have the United States Attorney's agreement that we can hold him on terrorism charges for a while, like at least several months if we want to. Or transfer him to Gitmo, but I don't want to take him to Gitmo. I think he's pretty secure at Rikers. None of his guards are Rikers staff. They are all Federal Marshals I brought in from out West."

Kate was relieved to hear Shaw confirm what Jarvis had told her a few minutes earlier . She said, "You are telling me that he will be remanded to custody till trial."

Shaw replied, "Yes Kate, that's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Good. Thank you. I'll touch base later."

When the call ended, Kate called Rick; he picked up on the first ring and said, "Kate, did you have to dive over the desk and disarm him?"

"Yes, he was going for a gun. And I didn't want to shoot him. Well, that's not true; I wanted to shoot him but I want him on trial more. It would have been too fast and easy. I want him to suffer through a decade or two in the ADX SuperMax in Florence, Colorado, getting food through a hole and exercising alone between white walls. He's going to live in a white hell. I want him to slowly lose his mind one minute at a time. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but that's not why I called, Rick. He has partners. He's not alone at the top, and they are still after us. Shaw is busy looking for them, but don't stick your head outside, they are still out there locked and loaded with lots of resources."

"Thanks for that, I had no idea. Alexis and I will keep our heads down here and go to work on the board to find them. See you when you get here." Kate ended the call.

Kate said to Jarvis, "Mind if I keep this gear?"

"By all means, we have lots of it. I'll arrange for a charger for the radio to be sent to you if Shaw doesn't already have one."

"Thanks. I don't like to go up against these guys without a rifle capable vest."

Jarvis said, "Take this silenced M4 and the magazines of special subsonic ammo I have here. Taking a Glock to a rifle fight isn't actuarially sound."

Kate looked at the weapon offered: 12" barrel with silencer, holographic sight, laser and grip operated LED StreamLight. "Thanks, I'll do that," she told Jarvis. "I'll return it to Shaw when this is over."

Jarvis checked the safety, handed her the carbine, then unfastened the magazine pouches from his vest and passed them to her one at a time. She fastened them to her vest as she got them, noting that the vest was getting a lot heavier.

She could see the building with Castle's loft was just ahead of them. Knowing the pilot hated to do anything twice she asked, "What's the plan?"

"I do an approach like last night only at the last minute I shift to the front door. I won't be on the ground long so don't linger over good-bye."

Kate smiled and said to Jarvis and Jones, "Sorry guys, the pilot says good-bye kisses will have to wait till next time."

They laughed and said, "Yeah, right. Watch where you point that thing. And thanks for being there today."

Kate looked at them and said, "You are welcome. Thanks for having my back in there."

She watched the pilot's approach to the building, saw what was coming, turned to the guys in back and said, "You might want to hang on. He goes nearly inverted in this coming maneuver."

When they were on the ground Kate jumped out the instant the skids were both settled, sprinted for the door as she felt the blast of air from the rotors while the chopper lifted off. The detail at the door held it open for her as their eyes roamed continuously looking for threats. None appeared and she was inside.

She said to the inside guy, "Call it up, and tell them thanks."

He smiled and said, "Roger that, Detective. Nice weapon."

Kate grinned, "I bring it along for light work. Can't carry Ma Deuce."

"Yeah, right, fifties are a definite handful," he said and chuckled as she headed down the hall to the elevator.

Kate went to the elevator and soon was approaching the door to the loft. It opened and Rick held it for her to to run in. He shut, locked and chained it behind her and then gave her a hug, vest and all. She said, "Just a second, this is a submachine gun; I want to put it down." Rick let her, and unfazed, he gave her a kiss, and she felt Alexis trying to reach around her vest and Rick.

Alexis said, "What is this, armor plate?"

Kate said, "Sort of, what you are feeling are the ceramic plates that are intended to stop rifle bullets like the one I was shot with. I have this vest on loan, and I think it's fast becoming my best friend, but I want to get it off. It weighs at least forty pounds without the four magazines of subsonic machine gun ammo."

Alexis said, "You have a machine gun?"

"Yes, that rifle right there. It's on loan from the FBI. Whatever you do, don't mess with it. On second thought, come here. She picked it up and said, "When you grip it here, it turns on that laser. The bullets go where that red dot is. This little lever here is on safe right now. Turn it to here where it points to semi, it will fire each time you pull the trigger. Turn it one step farther and it fires three round bursts.

"I'm going to leave it loaded on safe. An unloaded gun doesn't do anybody any good for defense. As soon as this is over, this goes back to the FBI. I'm going to put it in the bedroom just inside the door on the left next to the shotgun."

Alexis watched this with wide open eyes. Kate turned to her and said, "Lex, look at me. Lex ... look at my eyes." When she could see she had her attention she said, "We are going to protect you. We have one of them, Oxley, in jail in solitary confinement at Rikers. Empty cells on each side. None of the Rikers staff is guarding him; they are all Federal Marshals from west of the Mississippi.

"Until today I thought he was it. But, there are more of them out there. Agent Shaw is chasing them with the biggest most focused manhunt since bin-Laden was killed. They have records, warrants to look at anything, and they are pouring through facts at the rate of several hundred million per second looking for patterns. The first rip in their cloth of deceit will be all it takes, and we'll tear it apart exposing them all. I'm expecting there will be something close to a hundred man international take down staged by the FBI, and Interpol within the next two or three days. They know we're coming, and at this point there is nothing they can do to stop us. There is nobody they can kill and make it stop. At this point, taking me out won't even slow it down. But they will try. They're going to fight like cornered cats, but they are going to lose. And they know it."

"I'm afraid, Mom. I've seen you in action; you are freaking awesome, but I can't do that. I've lead a wonderful life, but I've been so sheltered. I knew intellectually that evil was out there, but I thought I was safe. I've learned over the last few days nobody is safe. But right now we aren't watching the busses on the interstate trying to decide when it's safe to cross; we are standing in the road watching them come."

"Lex, the way to make it stop is to do everything we can to help bring them down. Your Dad and I are working on that as hard as we know how."

Alexis looked at her; Kate could see the trust in her eyes when she asked, "You will keep me safe?"

Kate assured her, "Yes, Alexis, I will, we will. I won't let them hurt you."

Alexis said, "Thanks. I believe you. Now I want to help Agent Martin figure out how to kick some serious butt. I'm beginning to understand why people use foul language. Dad, let's go figure this out." She and Castle hugged, Alexis backed away, caught his hand and they headed for the board and Agent Martin.

Kate called Espo and asked, "How did it go?"

Espo said, "You have him behind bars. Right?"

"Yes. Last I saw of Oxley he was in the custody of US Marshals headed for solitary ar Rikers."

"Good. I want him to suffer."

"He will. How did your take down go?"

"Really well. Two of them wanted to resist, but we have them in custody. Tough customers but we had them out numbered and out gunned. The FEDs left with a truck load of documents and computers. Literally. I saw a guy I know out in their warehouse. I had the FED's bring him in. I don't think he'd be part of anything illegal, but he might know it was going on. I'm going to question him in a few minutes with Kevin for backup. Kev is doing the homework now so we have the answers to some of the questions we are going to ask."

"How did Hastings do?"

"Hastings hit the jackpot, again. Found a closet full of explosive clothes and a cabinet full of the chemicals to make them. They apparently planned to blow the place up to destroy evidence if it was compromised. She stopped that from happening.

"But the real jackpot was she also found a hidden compartment that eluded all of us. She's a little scary; I'm glad she's one of the good guys. It had two hard drives and a computer in it. There was a plug to keep the computer charged so it's been there for a while now. Be good to have her on the team. She's a lot smarter than she let's on."

Kate said, "I know."

Espo replied, "Or you wouldn't have asked for her."

"Bingo."

"Okay, gotta go, Ryan's ready. I'm going to see if I can get this guy to spill everything he knows, everything he suspects, everything he speculates and see where it takes us."

'10-4, Out."

She picked up the deadly M4 and took it into the bedroom. _Latest thing in bedroom accessories,_ she thought with a grin as she checked to be sure the selector was set on safe and leaned it against the wall next to the shotgun. She sighed and stretched with pleasure as she removed the heavy combat gear, but she was caught by surprise when she realized she had acquired yet another Glock 19. She left it in the holster by the vest. Her ankle holster with the Glock 26 went on a shelf in the closet. Not about to leave herself disarmed, she shrugged into her personal shoulder holster with her Glock in it and covered it with a lightweight vest.

She walked out to join Castle, Martin, and Alexis at the board.

Kim said, "First, congratulations on getting that SOB in a cell. That is beyond huge. It's stirred up a hornets next of activity."

"Anything you can use?"

"Oh my, yes. The board is churning. In fact Shaw has computer power all over the government chewing on this pile of data they got – the Director has basically given her a blank check at this point. It's a brute force type of search, not optimized much because the parameters are so loose, but by morning we should have some indications that can be used to refine the search. She has about a dozen interrogations going on which may yield some data that can be used to reduce the scope of the search. The data will be vetted thoroughly before we allow it to be applied in a way that limits the generality of the search, but when we can use it, it will tremendously speed things up. This is going to proceed exponentially. We'll get some ripples, use those to better focus the search, adjust the parameters, get more hits, add those in, and soon we'll have a critical mass and it will all come apart in terms of understanding. I'd bet my career we'll have them all exposed and be writing arrest warrants by the hundreds in less than thirty-six hours. This is international. We'll be coordinating with Interpol, all the police forces and Military police in the sand box, across Europe, all of it. The trick will be to take them all down at about the same time so they don't get tipped off. Detective Beckett, you started an investigation that will end up being the biggest criminal take down in history to date."

Kate blinked at the enormity of what Martin had just said and replied, "Thanks. I'd rather have my mother back, but I'm glad we're bringing them all down. They know Oxley is behind bars, but they don't know what we have on him or that we know of their existence. Believe it or not, we still have some element of surprise on our side. They know we are coming, but they don't think we can see them. They are wrong. Look for them to start to run."

Kim took a long look at Kate and said, "Detective, you have to be beat. You've engaged in two major take downs in less than twenty-four hours with all the stress of the continuing threat. In addition, you've dressed daily in full combat tactical vests with triple plates (and brought home a silenced, full auto M4 for domestic protection. I have no idea where you get the strength to carry on."

Kate looked at Kim and said, "I carry on because the alternative is unacceptable. But for right now what you are telling me is that we should sit back for a few hours and let the machines do the leg work."

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I agree. Rick, how about a bowl of cold cereal and turning in early? We may have another long day tomorrow. I feel like I've been ridden hard and put away wet."

Rick looked at her, gave her hand a gentle squeeze and said, "I'm good with that." He turned to Kim and Alexis and said, "You two are on your own. Just don't go for an evening stroll or let anybody in without waking us."

They both said they wouldn't. Kate and Rick walked to the kitchen. Kate sat on a stool and let Rick wait on her.

She was just starting to relax a little when her phone rang. She saw it was Gates, answered and put it on speaker saying, "Captain, you are on speaker."

"I saw the video of you taking down Oxley. I would have shot him, but I'm glad you didn't. Are you okay? That had to hurt with all the bruises you have."

"I'm okay. The vest took the majority of the impact. I didn't enjoy landing on the inside of the vest, but it was better than taking the punch he threw at me. I think he might have broken his hand on the chest plate."

"Actually, he did break his hand. Serves him right. I wish he'd broken his head. I'm going to be really happy to let him rot between white walls forever. Did he say anything useful?"

Kate laughed and said, "He tried to spit on me so I duct taped his mouth shut. He kept trying to express himself in the helicopter but nearly exploded with frustration after I explained that he'd be in the ADX at Florence looking for entertainment in plain white walls. Let him sit and soak in solitary for a few days with nobody to boss around or threaten and he's going to be willing to sell his sister into slavery to get out of there. The ones that have to demonstrate how tough they are usually break first. He has no loyalty to anybody but himself. But don't make him a deal of any sort. Pour acid in the lock, weld the door shut, and leave him there."

Gates said, "I agree with you, but some place in FBI HQ there is a do-gooder that wants him to be allowed to socialize with the general population."

"He won't last fifteen minutes in the exercise yard and you know it."

"We may be forced to find out if your concerns are true."

"Get the idiot on a recording, predict what's going to happen, use the tape to get them fired when it goes south," Kate suggested.

"Detective, I'd love to, but I don't think that's going to be allowed.

"Captain Gates, did it occur to you that the person that wants him exercised with the general population is also corrupt, that he or she wants him killed to shut him up?"

"No, I thought it was stupidity."

"You have a name?"

"Yes. Want me to give it to Shaw?"

"Of course. I'll take any lead we can get, and this has to be one. Nobody, regardless of how liberal, could be dumb enough to put Oxley in the general population exercise yard."

06/08/2012 **EN:** **Please let me know what you think about the story. Feedback is the key to the learning process for someone so new to this.**


	15. Magic, Mystery and Encryption

Castle After 4x23 / FW

13 **AN: Again, many thanks to PatriciaLouise and Gwynne for their patient mentoring of my progress through this story. **

**Once again, I own nothing about the TV series Castle. Marlow and company are telling a great story. Is it Septermber 24th yet? **

**Chapter 15 – Magic, Mystery and Encryption **

Once again Kate awoke to the smell of coffee and to the faint sound of movement in the apartment. She felt completely relaxed as she transitioned peacefully from sleep to that pleasant in-between state that preceded fully awake. She and Castle were spooned; his arm was over her waist and his knees were warm behind hers. She could feel his steady breathing as his chest moved against her back. _This, _she thought, _was just another of the wonderful ways to wake up with her man, her fiancée, Richard Alexander Rogers Castle, the man she had willingly promised to spend the rest of her life with. Even his name sounds good. _She felt his breathing change and ran her fingers along his forearm. He responded by pulling her tighter against him.

She asked softly still not completely awake, "You awake, sweetheart?"

"Mmmmm, mumfhmmm." was the reply; she could feel the vibration from it on her back.

Then she felt a different response in the region of his manhood as he wiggled slightly. He said, "I want you, now, before coffee, before knocks on the door, before anything."

Kate thought that was a wonderful idea and signaled her answer with careful movement of her buttocks.

About half an hour later Kate managed to extricate herself from the tangle they had collapsed into, find the bathroom door in the cave like darkness of the bedroom with the concrete window, and turn on a light. It was blindingly bright to her fully dark adapted eyes, but she managed to squint enough to find her tooth brush and start the shower. A few minutes later she saw Castle, in a robe, enter the bathroom with two mugs of coffee. She slid the shower door open two inches and held her hand out saying, Rick, "I need a little of that." He handed it to her, waited a few seconds and took it back.

Then he joined her. She said, "Rick, as much fun as this might be, please just wash my back, let me rinse my hair, and get out of here. I really want to get to that board to see what has developed overnight."

Rick didn't seem to hear her request, and it was another ten minutes before she stepped unsteadily out of the shower to lean on the counter and gather her wits before she even attempted to towel dry. She decided right then and there she'd had no idea what she'd been missing and that she had never, ever before, been even close to being in love. Until now she hadn't a clue what it was about because she knew what had just happened in the shower was just the tip of the iceberg, the frosting on the many layer cake of her feelings for this man. And she was supposed to catch a collection of conspirators? _Good luck with that Katherine,_ she thought.

She managed to leave the bathroom before he exited the shower, or they might have been in there till hunger drove them out. She rummaged through the boxes, found some cotton socks, clean jeans, underwear, and an open-collar, button shirt, slipped them on with a belt, slipped her badge over the waistline of her pants, added the shoulder holster with the Glock 19 and put on a matching vest that more or less concealed the gun, holster, and two spare ammo pouches. The loose clothing was less irritating to her bruised body that had willingly been put to the test twice this morning already. She had her hand on the doorknob when Castle reappeared in his robe. She walked over, slid her arms around his neck to pull him down for a more chaste kiss than the last few and said, "I'm going to freshen up my coffee. Meet you at the murder board in a bit?"

"Yes. My mind is spinning trying to comprehend what you and Shaw think is happening behind that screen to develop more clues. My research has been limited to murder most foul, but this is conspiracy, fraud, deception, and extortion most foul on a global scale. I really need the Cliff's Notes version of searching terabytes of data for dummies."

"I can do that, I admit I barely have a concept of what is going on, but I read an article about it in a professional journal for detectives a year or so ago, without which I'd be out in the woods about it, too."

"Do you think Alexis understands it?"

"Probably significantly better than I do but not even close to as well as Martin or Shaw. I gotta get out there," she finished, giving him one more quick kiss and headed for the bedroom door.

She saw Martin and Alexis at the board on her way to the kitchen. There were also a couple of empty cereal bowls in the sink which indicated they'd been up for a while. She refilled her mug and walked to join Alexis and Kim at the board.

# # #

As she approached, both Kim and Alexis turned to give a pleasant, "Good morning." Alexis embellished it by rising and sliding her arms around Kate's waist giving her a good morning hug and whispering, "You and Dad must glow in the dark. You both look so good."

Kate whispered back, "Feel even better than that. Lex, I'm just learning what love is." She let Alexis return to her seat and looked over Martin's shoulder. She said, "Kim, when Rick gets here, both he and I would like the Cliff's Notes version of searching for clues in terabytes of possibly unrelated data to find patterns."

"No problem."

"Alexis, do you know how it's being done?"

"I think so. But I'll listen to the explanation anyway. I'm sure to learn something from it."

Kate's phone rang, Gates appeared on the screen, and she answered it, "Beckett."

"Good Morning, Detective. We have been getting bits and pieces of data back from all the data processing the FBI embarked on. Apparently they are still feeding data into the system. Shaw told me they have a room full of people piling documents on auto-feed scanners to get it into digital format, after which they are reading the documents into their case database through the use of artificial intelligence routines they adapted from what NSA uses to do things we would rather not know about. Anyway, as more data gets into the system, we can expect results. But for the moment, if you don't need Ryan, Esposito, and Hastings up there, I'd like to have them out following some of these new leads. The leads are all on the board there, or so I'm told."

"I'm good with that, Captain. Right now I would rather free associate with the bits they churn out and see what pops into my head rather than administer the details of three detectives' plan of the day."

"Two detectives and a temporary plain clothes officer, but I understand your point."

"You might put the three of them in the field together. Let the guys mentor her a bit. She's smart and intuitive, but she doesn't know the tips and tricks that are second nature to an experienced detective. That said, she's been worth her weight in gold over the last couple of days."

"Yes, she has, but don't get ahead of yourself, Detective."

"I'm not getting ahead of myself; I'm trying to stay ahead of her. When she gets bored she gets in trouble – not trouble doing evil but trouble bending the rules to do good."

"Yeah, I get your point, but take it slow."

"10-4. Out."

Kate studied the board for a few more minutes and then saw Castle come out of the bedroom and walk to the kitchen. He refilled his cup and joined her at the board. He asked, "Agent Martin, I need to get something to eat. When I've got my blood sugar out of the comatose level, can you give me the computer searching for dummies version of what is going on behind that board?

"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Castle."

Rick turned to Kate and said, "Bowl of cereal? We could stand here, eat it and listen."

Kate said, "A full cup of Raisin Bran with whole milk on it would be wonderful."

"Deal," he answered and headed for the kitchen.

Kate studied the board while Alexis and Kim worked with the data, giving commands and studying the results. Almost before she knew it, Rick returned, handed her the bowl, and said, "Okay, Special Agent Professor Martin, class is in session."

Kim grinned and then said, "What we are using are search and analysis algorithms developed by NSA, the National Security Agency, that have been re-optimized at considerable expense to find what we are looking for. The software is not specific to this case, but it was developed for cases like this one. NSA monitors radio transmissions; satellite communications, news feeds, and internet traffic from all over the world looking for national security related intelligence in what appears at first, and second, glance to be mere random noise. That's an incomprehensible amount of data coming in that never stops. Ever. They are inundated by it twenty-four seven three-sixty-five, and their charter is to make some sense of it. It's true; they have the most amazing computer processing machines on the planet. Some of those machines never see the light of day because they were born there, don't exist anyplace else, and die there when they are replaced by the newer and faster version. I've heard rumors they have machines that make the CRAY's look like turtles taking a nap.

The key to their through-put isn't the speed of a single computer; it is their use of thousands of processors operating in parallel coupled to correlate their output in such a way as to recognize even faint data patterns that stand out from the norm. The genius is in the software that coordinates it all and manages the analysis of the results. It's much like a person with normal hearing being able to identify and follow a single conversation in a room full of conversations. To do that they have had to develop software that will manage thousands of parallel processors and the processing technology to implement it without bogging down the process. I can't tell you how well it works for them, but it sure works for us in a case like this.

"They don't let the SW that does that out in the world. The only copies that exist are in their big underground facilities located God-knows-where, which is where our search is also running. The FBI leases time on their computers to do this sort of thing, and it's very expensive. Shaw must have some major clout because she's had them processing her ocean of data over night, again, and they have detected some interesting anomalies in what they call the multidimensional data surface, one of which is the stuff you found earlier, Kate. They are refining the constraints on the search, effectively reducing the amount of data that needs to be reviewed. What they have as of a couple of hours ago is what looks like ripples lined up to point at certain corporate entities. They have started a corollary search into the people related to officialdom in those entities using data like travel records. Public knowledge data from newspapers, and so forth, is used to separately auto correlate and cross correlate the data, and also to understand the ownership of the corporate entities.

"The analogy is how you use your intuition and experience to sort through all the data you see about humanity in a day and pick out those particular clues that relate to the case you are working on. The key to getting this tool applied to the case was finding a way in, the first tear in their fabric. That happened when Oxley was directly implicated twice; once in the car following the gassing to free Maddox, and once again just before Maddox died. You caught that last instance on your helmet cam audio pickup, Detective.

"Shaw and a team of attorneys used that together with the connection they found in public corporate records that tied him to Custody International, and the Custody International Employees planting explosives in the down stairs apartment to get very powerful warrants signed by the federal judge authorizing a detailed search of everything related to his personal life, political and business careers from 5 years before he was first elected, to the present day. The warrant extends beyond today to their activities as they occur in real time.

"We have the go ahead on everything related to airport cameras, passports, personal finances, credit cards, phone records, computers, filing cabinets, conversations with neighbors-in-law, you name it, and we have access to it. Further, when it ties in someone else with data that implicates them as knowingly participating in illegal activities of Oxley's, we have a license to go after their data as well, though Shaw is being very careful about that and getting new warrants signed for personal and corporate entity that looks significant just to be sure nothing is vulnerable to challenge. Shaw is being stretched really thin right now.

"As leads are revealed, and confirmed, they can be used to adjust the parameters of the search. When enough is learned, a second pass through the reduced data set is taken which happens much much faster, like a hundred thousand times faster, because there is something like point zero zero one percent as much data to look at. This morning, about the time Alexis made the coffee, the search turned the corner and started up the optimization path. We aren't seeing it here yet because this display can't handle it, but Shaw called in just before you arrived to say she thinks they will have enough to go after not only Oxley, but a State senator from New Jersey, major stockholders in a couple of defense companies, nearly the entire board of directors of Custody International, and another company that is just emerging as a major player called BlackCom International. Apparently it owns some satellites that are supposedly private corporate communications but which are the conduit for most of the data about Custody International's illicit activities. Their custody business was just the public face of what was essentially a company devoted to incorporated crime."

"What sort of crime," Kate asked.

"Murder for hire: need a competitor's CEO gone – they're your go-to assassination source. They'll make it look like natural causes, an accident, anything but murder. Drugs: they had, for all practical purposes, a monopoly on all the drugs coming out of Afghanistan. It appears, at this point, to have been their major money maker. The theory, before you ask, is that they want to grow their other revenue sources to allow for the day the Afghanistan source dries up – which it will when US troops leave. At that point, this organization was intended to become the financing source for the Taliban and Al-Qaida. Right now these terrorist organizations are much too high profile for any American group to be associated with.

"The data already implicates some pretty high up officials in Karzide's administration, which isn't a surprise, but the hard data may make it more difficult for the State Department to close their eyes and continue to support them than it already is.

"They have been tied to smuggling antiquities and valuable art out of the country that were supposedly destroyed in fires, and other military events. But the search has turned up probable destinations for major pieces that have been missing for several years. Some of the stuff was taken from the Iraq museum that was vandalized, for example.

"Then there is the ugliest part of all, the human trafficking to feed the fetishes of the insanely rich in the Middle East. Girls and boys disappear in about equal quantities, usually from Europe or neighboring countries. They never come back because they don't live very long. Interpol has supposedly been 'ON' this for a decade but has been remarkably inept at making progress despite huge budget and resource application. The reason why became apparent while you were getting coffee – it's pretty certain one or more of three very high officials associated with the investigation for the last ten years are on the organization's payroll. It's really unsettling to see the corruption they have been able to buy, but they have a budget that's hundreds to thousands times larger than the budgets of those chasing them.

"There is a lot more, but finally, because it has implicated a couple of top Interpol and MI6 officials, and Sophia Turner in our own CIA, plus maybe some more, the pace is about to accelerate to light speed. But we are running into a pretty hard wall related to the CIA involvement, in addition Turner is alleged to be dead."

Castle's head snapped to meet Kate's sudden intense glance. Martin noticed that and said, "What?"

Kate said, "Castle and I can't tell you. I know it's classified, but I might be able to ask that it be declassified based on what you found. I need to contact someone, but it needs to be on an encrypted phone line to the CIA. Do you have any idea how I could do that?"

"No, but Shaw might, and if she doesn't she will doubtless know where to find someone who does. Give her a call."

Kate said, "Castle? Shall we?"

Rick, who had watched the conversation like a spectator at a tennis match, gave a double take, transitioned to player, and said, "Yes. Yes, we need to make that call."

They went in the office, shut the door, then into the bedroom and shut that door. Kate saw his randy teenager surfacing and said, "Absolutely not right now. I promise I'm in it for later, but at the moment, we have to focus in order to stay alive. If they shoot at that window with a portable rocket launcher, and they might have one, it will blow an apartment sized hole in that wall and incinerate us at the same time."

Rick said, "You were going to make a call?"

Kate dialed Shaw and put it on speaker.

"Detective Beckett?"

"Yes, Castle and I, you are on speaker. I need to figure out how to get in contact with the CIA via an encrypted voice connection to someone that you trust, assuming there is at least one person in that category."

"Wow. I've not done that before. You are concerned that your request itself may be classified and so aren't willing to risk it on an unencrypted phone?"

"Jordon, Rick and I absolutely positively _know_ it's a classified request. The subject of the question is classified. And a lot more that we can't share."

"And you can't leave there to visit Langley and expect to arrive alive. Got it." She paused, Rick looked like he was going to speak but Kate touched a finger to his lips, shook her head, and then Shaw spoke again, "I have an idea, or at least I know someone who knows someone who might have an idea. I'll get back to you. I assume it's urgent and case related."

Kate said, "Both."

"Right, I'm on it," and she ended the call.

Kate turned to Rick, slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. She said, "I can't tell you how much I enjoy being able to do that whenever I want. I'm just beginning to commence to understand what a connection of unparalleled magnificence we have; it's completely unique and wonderful without bound."

"Kate, it started with 'you have no idea' said in my ear before you strutted off to meet your cohorts after that first case and grew from a tease to a consuming passion that is just the beginning for us. It has hints of wonders to come with time and maturity, and I want to cherish every nuance."

Coming back to earth Kate said, "To live for that, we need to get back out there and get our heads into it."

"I know, but we can hold hands while we do it, right?"

"We certainly can," she said reaching for his hand to lead him out of the bedroom and back to their pursuit of evil. _Pursuit of evil, _she thought,_ certainly describes it in this case. Definitely evil._

# # #

Kate and Rick left the office heading for the board when Kate felt her tummy rumble and said, "Rick, I need to eat something with protein in it. Not a lot, but at least something without too much sugar."

He said, "Frequently when I'm going to be writing and I want to avoid a sugar crash, I'll have a hardboiled egg or two, a piece of toast and peanut butter, and a cup of milk to un-stick the peanut butter from the teeth."

"I've not done exactly that, but it sounds like exactly what I need right now. I'll supersize it and take two eggs," she said and then rewarded his suggestion with a smile and a quick kiss. "Do you have an egg cooker?"

"I certainly do, but you go to the board and keep us alive, I'll feed you as my contribution to keeping us alive, deal?"

"Deal," she said. She turned and let his hand trail away as they went to their separate destinations.

Kate looked at the list of things that had begun to scroll by in one of the on-screen windows. She could see they were facts that were being assembled, complete with references, into the basis for more warrants. She asked, "Will Shaw have the whole justice department working on this?"

Martin chuckled and said, "No, but almost every U.S. Attorney west of the Mississippi and their staffs are cranking out warrants to enable zeroing the search on private data from those incriminated by the data turned up so far. The computer system is cranking out the boiler plate for the warrants, and the search engine is inserting the text you see scrolling by in that window to provide the factual basis. At this point, I count twenty-seven U. S. Attorneys and seventeen Federal Judges who are essentially full time on this case. I've never seen anything even remotely approaching this level of intensity. You truly woke the Dragon."

That last phrase caused Kate to shiver, but she didn't comment and instead asked, "What's happening in the media?" Neither she or Castle had seen a news program or read a newspaper since this started.

"Don't ask if you don't want to know," Martin said with a grin. "You guys are all over it and not on page six either. Here's the front page of the Times," she said when the paper's front page from that morning popped up on the big board.

It had headlines about 'Congressman at Center of Huge Global Crime Syndicate', another said, 'Richard Castle and his Real Life Det. Heat Lead Investigation.' It showed a picture of Beckett in the air diving over the desk to take Oxley down with a gun clearly visible in Oxley's hand. Another picture showed her in mid-air jumping out of the Helicopter in a vest with the M4 in her hand. Martin said, "That's just a taste of the print media. You two are the stuff of legend, rumor, romance, innuendo, and action super heroes. Fox had video of the helicopter's aerobatics to make its approach to the garage door last night, the pickup earlier. They have cameras on all sides of this building. And somehow someone with a telephoto lens caught you two kissing after Maddox is down. The headline on that one is 'Rook Rewards Heat for Saving Life.' It was a tabloid, but there are no copies left on the stands, all sold out. Like it or not, Beckett, you are an Urban Legend in your own time."

"I never wanted that," Kate said quietly. "I just wanted to grow up with my mother alive to share my life. That bastard took both my parents away from me, and he wouldn't leave me alone. He had me shot. He terrorized my life for twelve years. I left the investigation, and he kept coming after me. I had to bring him down as an act of self-defense. And after the attempt on us yesterday with the rocket launching helicopter, these other folks are just as set on killing me as he was, and so help me God, I will not let them succeed if I have to kill them all myself. And I have a good start on that already."

"Yes, you do," Martin said.

Kate looked over to see Alexis looking at her with a sense of awe and wonder. She said, "Lex, it's just fifteen minutes of fame."

Alexis said, "It's not the fifteen minutes that gets my attention, it's the life time of courage and incredible strength of character behind it. You make a hell of a role model, Detective Beckett. Don't deprive my generation - they, we, need to see people like you as resources to counteract the influence of those whose pontificating is only possible because they can pretend to be someone or something else so well."

Kate said, "Thanks Alexis. That was reassuring, but I need a change of subject; let's get back to catching bad guys. What else can I do to help?"

Before Martin could answer that, Kate's phone rang. It was Shaw. Without thinking Kate put it on speaker and waved to Castle to join her and he jogged over to catch part of the conversation. Shaw said, "In about five minutes an encrypted CIA phone will be dropped off with the detail in front of the building by an ordinary courier. I'm told someone you both know will call you on it seven minutes later. I've no data beyond that, and no expectation for what you will be able to tell me after the call. But there it is. Got to go. Bye."

Kate looked at Castle and instantly regretted that she hadn't dragged him to the bedroom first. She said to Martin and Alexis, "You can never ever tell anyone you heard that, got it?" Then both nodded. Kate said, "Say it."

Alexis said, "I can never ever tell anybody I heard that. And I won't. But you realize it just makes you both more amazing to me. I had no idea that you were involved in things like that."

"You may find out; it may all come out in the press, but I hope not," Castle said.

Martin said, "I won't reveal what you said; it is clearly classified."

The officer in charge of the security detail called Kate to tell her the courier was on her way up. Kate went to the door, went through her routine except she never removed the chains since the phone was in an envelope that would fit through the opening with the chains in place.

When she had the phone, she motioned to Castle; they went into the bedroom and closed both the office and bedroom doors behind them. They had no more than gotten there when the phone rang. Kate answered and said, "Detective Beckett, only Richard Castle and I are in the room, you are on speaker."

"Martin Danberg here." Kate and Castle instantly knew who he was. "What did you need to contact the CIA about?"

Kate asked, "Have you been following the news about Congressman Oxley being arrested?"

"Yes. Saw the video of you diving over a desk after him. You seem to do a lot of that."

"Yes, well, last time there wasn't a desk as I remember and the floor was hard. He is just the tip of the iceberg. We originally thought he was the top of the food chain in his criminal empire, he isn't, or at least he isn't alone up there, and the ones that are left still want me dead - they came after me with a rocket launching helicopter after we dropped him off at Rikers."

"I know."

"How do you know that?"

"We know pretty much everything that happens to you, Detective. And you, Mr. Castle."

"I suppose I should just never be surprised. Anyway, I'm objecting to them killing me," Kate said with some obvious exasperation.

"Yeah, and you took out Maddox, one of the best. However, as interesting as this is, I still don't hear anything that requires this conversation."

"We have uncovered data that irrefutably links Sophia Turner to Oxley's operation; in fact, she may have been one of his peers in the criminal enterprise that stretched all around the globe. The early evidence is it may have defrauded the U. S. government out of two and a half billion or maybe more, plus the profits from an exclusive on the drug trade out of the sandbox. We are seeing evidence of CIA and high level military involvement as well as related corruption in both the NYPD and the FBI. We hoped we could find a way to share the results of our investigation with someone we could trust in the CIA to give the powers that be over there a chance to clean it up, if they want to. I hope they want to because I'm getting pretty damn tired of being shot at."

"I can see where that might get tiresome. Four of the powers that be, that I trust, are listening in on our conversation right now. I anticipated something like this might be your request. Call me back same time tomorrow, that would be 0930 hours," and the connection ended on his end.

Kate pulled out her phone, set the time in her calendar application with an alert half an hour before while she listened to Castle comment, "That was an amazing conversation considering what wasn't said. All five of them know what we want to know; now they have to hash out what they are or aren't going to tell us. How does anybody trust anybody else in that organization anyway?"

Kate shook her head and said, "I have no idea. I'm going to keep this phone in my pocket. I'm going to assume it's bugged and GPS equipped so they are listening to everything we say and know exactly where we are. I'll leave it in the office in your safe tonight. A girl's got to have some privacy. I'd like them to have as much access to the data we have as they can – it's our best hope of gaining their cooperation. I am expecting that, if they want to, they can give us evidence of exactly who in the military has been working with Oxley and company in addition to who in the CIA, though the CIA folks might just fade to black. Make no mistake, their fading to black, termination with prejudice, whatever they call it these days, works for me. I'd happily hold them under water till the bubbles stopped. What we have done is give them a chance to do it themselves, off book, and avoid the spotlight."

Rick asked, "Where did you get that two point five billion number?"

"It scrolled by in the window of developing data, I just happened to catch it. Now let's get back out there."

"I have that food we discussed ready in the kitchen if it hasn't gotten cold."

As Castle turned, she pulled him back and said, "I'm ready for food, but let's do this first." She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. It filled her with special warmth to know she could do that and that it was not only okay but was welcome. She didn't have to wait to receive it returned with interest. Then hand- in-hand they headed for the kitchen.

06/08/2012 **Thanks for reading this. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think. I'm definitely in learning mode.**


	16. All Y'all Are Under Arrest

Castle After 4x23 / FW

17

**Chapter 16 - All Y'all Are Under Arrest**

After they ate the snack Rick had prepared, Kate and Rick arrived at the board as Kim finished a query which listed seven names. Kate asked, "What is that a list of?"

Kim said, "Tell them, Alexis, you figured it out."

Rick and Kate turned to Alexis who said, "I think that is a list of the names of what could be called the governing council of Oxley's organization. I ran some queries looking for high frequencies of communication between people knowing Oxley and correlated it with times when we knew major events happened with the organization, like infusions of money into bank accounts, Oxley making undercover trips out of the country, and this is the list of names that turned up. We cross correlated with credit card receipts for rooms, etc. and found a number of times these people and Oxley were in the same town at the same time in various parts of the world. Assuming those were meetings, I asked Agent Martin if we could try to relate that to meeting room bookings in hotels or at other places, and maybe to rental cars and their GPS data for really recent gatherings."

"What did you find?" Kate asked.

"That they are all in New York City right now and their rental cars have all converged on the same location they were at yesterday. They are having a meeting."

Kate looked at Martin who said, "We didn't even know these people were related to the organization till about twenty minutes ago. We need to get Shaw's team on this, get the paperwork in place so we can take them down."

Castle asked, "Can we have someone do a recon on that building when they leave?"

Kate, worried about how this would coordinate with what Shaw might be doing, gave her a call with the phone on speaker. Shaw answered, "Morning, I'm slammed, what do you have?"

"We've discovered a governing body for the organization, seven people; they call themselves 'The Circle' in a text message. It looks like they are meeting in an office loft not too far from the warehouse where we took the other folks down. They have been having meetings there every day for the last three days based on cell phone traffic and text messages from two we have warrants for. I don't think they know we are on to them. How do you want to handle this?"

"Can you take that on? Break in on them to take them into custody 1300 today?"

"That's short notice but we're on it. What's critical about 1300?"

"That's the time we are taking down people all around the world; we need to do it all within a rather small window of time for obvious reasons. I'm coordinating it. You got this?"

"Can I use Jarvis and his people? These guys are going to have at least several guard troops."

"Yes, I'll have him call you."

"Then I've got it."

"Good luck. Out," Shaw replied.

The call ended, Castle said, "How are we going to do this?"

"It's 0800 now. I know what Shaw wants. I have no clue if they will be there at 1300 or not. I think we need to take them down as soon as we can get Warrants and set it up. Let me call Captains Davis and Gates."

She dialed Davis first. "Captain Davis," he answered.

"Detective Beckett. Can you support a takedown a couple of blocks from the warehouse we were at last night no later than one PM, or sooner if we have to and can get warrants?"

"Yes. Text me the address, I'll let you know where we are going to stage. I'm going to try to find us an indoor location close by with a back side entrance so we don't spook them. I'll take care of building plans and initial tactics. I'll text you the staging area when I know where it is. Meet me at the staging area at 9:00 o'clock."

"Ten-four, out."

Kate texted the address to Captains Davis and Gates, then dialed again, "Captain Gates."

"Captain, we have identified the governing circle for this organization. It is seven people. They are meeting now a couple of blocks from where we did the warehouse takedown. Shaw wants us to strike them at 1300 hours to coordinate with their worldwide take down plan. Davis will support; he's already looking for a staging area; we have the use of Jarvis and his Hostage Rescue Team. I'm meeting Davis at the staging area in an hour. We may have to move earlier if we find out their meeting is breaking up early. We can hold survivors incommunicado if we have to."

"Do you have material for arrest warrants?"

"I'm putting you on speaker."

"Kim, can you get the computer to fill out a set of those computerized warrants Shaw is using and have them printed where someone can get them signed and handed to Captain Gates?"

"Already in work. I should have the signed Warrant faxed to Captain Gates, and another copy here, in about 45 minutes."

Gates, apparently satisfied about the legalities asked, "You will be running the take down?"

"That's my plan though with Jarvis, Jones, and Captain Davis to help, it will be a team effort."

"I'll coordinate with Captain Davis and meet you at the staging area with my copies of the warrants. I have Esposito, Ryan, and Hastings here. I'll bring them along."

"Castle and I will need transportation. Can you get us some Federal Marshals?"

"I don't think so, Shaw has them all pretty much assigned and could use more. I'll call you back in ten minutes."

Beckett hung up and said to Rick, "Get 'The Phone'. Put in the battery and sim card, bring it here."

Rick headed for the office to get the CIA phone out of the safe without saying a word. Alexis and Martin looked at them with questions all over their faces. Kate just said, "It's the spook phone you never heard of. I want them to listen in on our conversations. But don't say anything about the spook phone while it's here."

Alexis and Kim nodded.

Rick was back with the phone assembled so Kate put it in her shirt pocket. Then she started talking, "Okay, we have identified this group of seven people who run the organization. They call themselves 'The Circle,' and they are presently in a meeting a few blocks from where we took down Maddox and company. Davis will find a place to set up a staging area; I'll go there to be part of the take down. Martin is getting the arrest warrants for them faxed to Captain Gates. Gates will bring Hastings, Ryan, Esposito and herself and the warrants to meet us at the staging area when we find out where it is. Our problem now is to figure out how to get there alive to do this. I've no doubt they have a hit team looking for us to leave the building,(;) there aren't any choppers or Federal Marshals to stage a multi-unit extraction. Anybody got any ideas."

Rick said, "Can Gates get NYPD SWAT to come and-"

He was interrupted by the phone in Kate's pocket ringing. "Beckett," she answered.

"Danberg. I'll pick you up in the garage. When you know the location of the staging area, say it within hearing of this phone, and I'll pick you up in the garage in an armored SUV ten minutes later. I'll call this phone 1 minute out. There will be three of them, you and Castle get in the back seat of the one with a license plate ending in seven five. I don't want to be in that garage for more than thirty seconds. There is a hit team out looking for you. We also know without a doubt it's being led by a Lieutenant Hudson who has gone rogue from NYPD SWAT for a _lot_ of money."

"How do you know this?"

"That's need to know, but trust me, it's accurate."

"Who's with him? More NYPD SWAT?"

"No, he's the only defector; the others are the C-Team from Oxley's organization. You took down the A-team at the warehouse. The B-Team is probably on guard duty for what you call The Circle. We were looking for who's running them, and we think you have found them."

"Are you planning to add your escort crew to the assault team?"

"We'd rather not do that directly, we're shy. But we will call Davis and let him know where we will be if needed. Keep this phone with you."

"WILCO."

"Out." And the call ended.

Alexis was looking at Kate wide eyed. Kate bent down, put a hand on each of Alexis's shoulders and said, "We'll be fine, Lex. I'm going in with the best the FBI have to offer, support from Federal Marshals, and a CIA Operations Team in reserve. I also have Espo, Ryan, and Hastings as wild cards."

"Dad, you will wait in the command center, right? You are not trained for this. You could get Mom or someone else killed."

Rick looked a little hurt, "That hurts, but it's the truth baby bird. I'll wait at the command center with Captain Gates. But I'll be geared up and watching the camera returns on Captain Davis's displays."

"I'd rather you were here."

"I have to go. I can't let her do this all alone."

"She will have all sorts of help."

Kate broke in and said, "Alexis, I really want your dad with me at the command center when we set up the take down. He's an out of the box thinker and frequently has been the person who figures out the right way to do it. He and I are a team."

"Will you take care of him?"

"He's my life, Lex, I won't let harm come to him."

"Take care of yourself too."

"I will, now I need to go find all that gear and get it on. I have a feeling this is going down a lot sooner than we might think."

Kate and Rick went into the bedroom where she located the tactical vest and drop holster. She spread the vest on the bed and removed all the magazines for the Glock and M4 from their various pouches. She checked each magazine to be sure it was full before replacing it in the vest. She kept one M4 magazine aside and used it to replace the partial one in the M4. At the same time she double checked that her Glock was fully loaded and ready to fire. The CIA phone was moved from her shirt pocket to one on the vest. Satisfied that all was in order she hoisted on the heavy vest, put on the drop holster and slipped her weapon into it. Once equipped, she had Rick put on his vest and gave him her normal duty Glock 19 to go in a holster on the vest along with three spare magazines. She said, "I don't expect you to use this, but I want you to have it. Got it?"

"Got it."

Kate put on her running shoes, Rick his hiking boots. And they were ready to go. Kate said, "I'll get rigged with camera and communications when we get to the staging area. I sure hope it's inside."

Just then, Kate got a text from Davis. She read the address for the staging area aloud to Rick and said, "We need to be in the garage in five minutes, that would be zero eight thirty-seven. I'm not going to call the front door, and I'm going to ask the officer outside your door to come in and stay with Martin and Alexis with orders not to tell anybody we are on the way to the garage. We'll use the stairway. Hopefully there will be food at the staging area."

Rick and Kate walked to join Alexis and Kim at the board for a moment. Kate asked Kim, "Are you armed?" Kim nodded. Then Kate turned to Alexis and said, "I am going to ask you to go in the office, and wait there with the shotgun from the bedroom. Kim, I'm going to ask the officer outside the door to come inside the loft. You are to ask him to leave after ten minutes. I don't want him calling downstairs to let the people at the front door know we are leaving. There is too much chance one of them would call Hudson to tell him we are on our way out. So you keep him by the front door. Kim, where is your gun?"

"Right here," She pulled back the unbuttoned long sleeve shirt she was wearing over her t-shirt to reveal a Glock 26 in an IWB holster at five o'clock.

"Do you have a backup?"

"Yes, right here," she replied, then opened a drawer on her right to reveal a Glock 19."

"Have that Glock in your hand the whole time. I'll have the officer leave his gun outside. Stand across the room from him. Alexis, you stand right over there just out of sight, and when he leaves, she will cover you when you go to shut the door. Do it from the hinge side so you are out of the line of fire if he tries to barge back in. Got it?" They both nodded.

"You really don't trust them."

"No, I don't. Now Rick and I have to leave."

Alexis gave them both a quick hug and ran to the office. Kim came with them and stopped across the room from the door, Glock 19 held in both hands at low ready.

Kate had her Glock in her right hand, opened the door with her left, and told the officer, whom she had never met, "This is nothing personal, but I want you to put your cell phone and weapon on the floor next to that wall and step in here. I want you to stand right there facing the door. Agent Martin is behind you; when she tells you, open the door, leave, close it behind you, then pick up your phone and weapon."

The officer looked angry but did as he was told. Kate backed out the door and closed it just short of latching, and then she and Castle ran for the stairs and headed down as fast as they could go to the garage. They arrived and barely had time to catch their breath when the three SUV's came in the door. Kate spotted the one with the plate ending in 075, pointed it out and ran to it. She verified it was Danberg in the front passenger seat, slipped the M4 into the seat ahead of her and climbed in. Castle went to the other side. They barely had the doors shut when the driver did an almost violent 3 point turn, and headed back out the door while Kate and Rick struggled to fasten their belts around their vests.

###

Alexis held the shotgun in her hands pointed up with the safety still on, but she remembered Kate's instructions and turned the laser sight on. She waited checking the time on the wall clock about every ten seconds; it seemed like time was standing still. She eased out till she was just out of sight of the officer but could lean and see him around the corner. Kim nodded at her but kept her eyes on the officer. When ten minutes had elapsed, Kim told the officer to put his right hand on his head, open the door with his left hand, step out and close it. He did as he was told while Alexis watched him with her head showing just enough that she could see just around the corner. As soon as the door started to shut she ran to it and slammed it shut with her right hand while still holding the shotgun in her left. She fastened the first lock before she set down the shotgun, clicked the other two locks in place and then added the chains.

She picked up the shotgun, kept the muzzle away from Kim, shut off the laser, turned to Kim and said, "Wow, that felt really tense, but there apparently wasn't anything to worry about."

"You did that perfectly, Alexis. Thank you very much. I admit I was nervous. I'm not a tactical trained agent like Shaw and some others. I'm the resident Geek."

"My training was limited to turn on laser, push safety off, put red dot on bad guy and pull trigger. Mom said she'd help me with everything that came after. I'm sure glad I didn't have to do anything but turn the laser on and off."

"That makes two of us."

"I'm going to put this back in the bedroom where I found it now."

"Good idea. I'll meet you at the board. Let's go see if we are getting any reality TV."

"Gives a whole new meaning to that phrase - Reality TV."

"Yes it does, especially for you with your Mom and Dad on the fringes of a gunfight."

"I don't like that part Kim. I don't like it at all."

# # #

Danberg's driver picked his way through the traffic with his siren and flashers going but took care to make sure they got there. Besides, the armored SUV appeared to handle like a drunken elephant. Kate was glad she didn't have to drive it.

Danberg turned around and said, "We have a location on the meeting place. We also have a location on the hit team that's after you. We'd suggest you get someone on the roof of the meeting building, at least one of them with rappelling gear, to be able to go down and go in through a window if that turns out to match with your plan."

"I could have Ryan, Esposito, and Hastings up there. Hastings is probably the candidate to rappel down the building."

Danberg said, "Really?"

"Yes, she's an experienced mountain climber and in incredible physical condition. She has skills most people don't. Let me get them on the phone."

She dialed Esposito and put him on speaker.

"Beckett?"

"Yes, you are on speaker with myself, Castle, and two others who will remain unnamed. Please put me on speaker so Ryan and Hastings can hear this."

"You are on speaker."

"Can you, Ryan, and Hastings get to the top of the building the meeting is in?"

There was some muffled conversation and then Espo said, "Hastings says she knows a way up inside the building."

"I want Hastings to get climbing gear from the SWAT or HRT trucks with enough rope to go safely all the way to the ground from the roof if she has to. I'm not expecting to need it, but we may require her to rappel down the building, shoot out a window, and go in on their floor to block their exit."

Hastings said, "I've done this before, please don't ask me when. I'd cut and crack the window. It's quieter and more efficient. Those windows are safety glass and will shatter into pebble size pieces rather easily. They will have a cutter I can use with a hammer to make a hole rather quickly without all the noise and danger of shooting it," Hastings replied.

"Ann, however you want to do it works for me."

"Espo, there is a hit squad out looking for me. It's being led by Lieutenant Hudson who has gone rogue from NYPD SWAT. Be on the lookout for them. My un-named accomplices here say the team is in the area. Might be a good idea if you pick up a Sniper Rifle."

"I can do that."

"All right then, please get moving."

"We'll get geared up at the command center and head over there."

"Ten-four. Out."

Danberg said, "I'm going to drop you folks off. Keep that phone where it can hear what is going on, and we will coordinate our actions to respond to yours and provide backup."

"Thanks, but don't be shy about calling me to make sure we don't end up with a friendly fire incident."

"No problem. Now, get ready to disembark; we will take a right turn into the parking area, stop long enough for you two to jump out, and head right back out again. Call Davis so he doesn't shoot you."

Beckett got Davis on the phone and said, "We will be coming in the garage door in a black SUV with lights on. It will make a U-turn; Castle and I will jump out, and it will leave again. Don't shoot us."

"Roger that. I hear you coming now."

The driver came around the corner and into the garage in a tire smoking drift that Beckett was sure was going to go all wrong, but it didn't. He jerked to a stop; she grabbed the M4, got out, and slammed the door. Castle jumped out and slammed the door on the other side. The vehicle rocketed back out the door in a power slide around the corner back the way it had come. She heard the siren stop and figured it was going to slow down, make some turns and blend into traffic.

She spotted the mobile command center just outside in the building court yard. It had apparently come in down a sidewalk because there wasn't a road to the location. She pointed it out to Rick, and they headed over there. She suddenly stopped at the edge of the opening and didn't want to step out into the open court yard. She saw Espo, Ryan, and Hastings enter the other building. Hastings had on a harness and a long coil of rope. Esposito had a scoped rifle.

Davis was looking in her direction and said. "It's safe here. None of the windows open, and we'll hear the breaking glass if someone tries to make a hole."

Beckett said, "We'll step inside if you don't mind."

Once inside she asked to see a floor plan. She had a minute to study it before Jarvis and Bert came in to join them. She looked at Jarvis asked, "You guys have this figured out?"

"Pretty much. It's a relatively old building renovated into 4 levels of loft office spaces. There are four of them on each side of the building, eight total on the floor in question. Seven of them are occupied. Typical of buildings of this period, there is a central structure of concrete walls that contains utility shafts, two banks of elevators, and two stair wells. I assigned numbers to the office spaces left to right, one being in the upper left; five being in the lower left. The Circle, as we call the group, is meeting in the office I've numbered as seven. We need to evacuate the people out of office five into office one, the two people in office six quietly past the stairwell right outside that office door, which is the one we will come down from the helipad to office one. We know the two people in office two are not sitting in line with the door; they are over against the wall by office one. The walls between meeting room seven and the other occupied rooms are concrete and effectively bullet proof so we aren't going to evacuate them, but we will send a Federal Marshall into them to keep the people calm just before we enter the meeting room.

"We have an HRT agent on the roof now; he was just joined by three of your people. We have more in both stair wells. The primary force will come up the central stair well and meet us on the 4th floor. We have set up like when we took Oxley down except there will be six people in front of you, Detective, with a reserve force of four behind. We aren't expecting resistance, but we wanted to be a least one on one if it happens. The meeting room has drapes, but using heat sensors from the building across the street, there are nine in the room which means the seven principals plus two body guards.

"We don't know where the rogue hit team is at the moment. That's the wild card. We're pretty sure they aren't in the building, but we don't know that for sure. Office eight is vacant, no heat signatures. The usual numbers of people are in the other offices. Office four is a phone boiler room so it's noisy."

"We will have a team land on the roof, disembark, and head down the stairs. In the short time we've had to get ready for this, it looks to us like Helicopters come and go several times a day here on an irregular schedule. That should keep the teams landing from stirring up their interest. When the agent on the roof sees them touchdown, he signals the others and us to start quietly up the two stair wells. They should arrive at floor level just as we do. Two will split off into offices two and three to contain the people in there, two will move around to take the people out of offices five and six. We'll be in the hall outside of seven which means they aren't going anyplace. We have dual sniper coverage of the meeting room from the adjacent building, but we don't think that will help much."

Beckett said, "I've got it. When do we do this?"

Jarvis said, "In four minutes. Let's get in the stair well."

Kate checked the M4 one more time. Left it on safe; put the rear strap around her neck so it took most of the weight while the gun was pointed down and to her left. It would tighten and provide support if she had to raise the weapon to her shoulder. She turned on the holographic sight, checked the red dot and circle for intensity and turned it up another two notches. She checked the grip laser and figured she was as ready as one ever is for such an encounter. As the final step she said, "Beckett, Communications Check."

The response from Jarvis was, "five by five, Beckett. Ready?"

"Yes."

"Stand by ... we'll try to be as quiet as we can going up the stairs - Okay, we are go," he said quietly, moving out nearly silently into the stair well. The next person in held the door as the rest of them went through.

Beckett kept up with them as they ran quietly up the stairs, but she felt the effort in her legs with the extra fifty pounds.

They arrived one flight before the 4th floor, and while they waited for the go signal indicating offices five and six had been evacuated, Beckett worked to catch her breath. She was almost back to normal when she heard Jarvis say in her ear, "Teams check in."

"Team one ready - office five evacuated."

"Team two ready -office six evacuated."

Then Jarvis said, "Team three ready. Stand by, five, four, three, two, one, go." And he launched himself quietly but rapidly up the final flight of stairs followed by five more ahead of Beckett.

She was surprised at how easily she mounted the last flight of stairs. She was barely breathing hard when she followed the six men of her lead team to the left and then took two rights into a small hallway. She rounded the corner as Jarvis crashed through the door to room seven. He was inside, followed by the other five men of her team, almost before she could blink. She heard a couple of pops, and as she came through the door with the M4 up, she saw one person going down and the rest still seated with their hands in the air. Her eyes automatically swept the group as the seven in the attack force spread out across the wall facing the meeting table. One, sitting to far right had his hands in the air but lower than the others. She could see on his face and scanning eyes that he might try something. She triggered the laser with the front grip and put it in his eyes. His head turned quickly a couple of degrees to see her with her rifle aimed right at his head. She could tell when he decided to give up, he linked his fingers together on top of his head. The first reinforcement man came through the door behind her, and Beckett told him, "Cuff the guy on the far right first but don't get in my line of fire doing it. He has a weapon someplace, and he is itching for an excuse to use it."

The officer said, "Got it," and eased down along the wall as Beckett eased to the left keeping the dot on the guy's face. The officer cuffed him, added a second set of cuffs, found the weapon under the table in a holster. She told the second man through the door to take the cuffed guy out in the hall by the elevator and wait.

One by one, the occupants of the room were cuffed except the man who was shot; Jarvis was doing first aid on him. Beckett said, "Jarvis, cuff his free hand to his belt."

Jarvis head snapped around, he nodded, and did as she suggested. Kate saw the man's shoulders slump when that happened, so did Jarvis who turned around again and said, "Thank you."

The rest went as planned, The Circle members were loaded in separate SUV's and taken via different routes to Rikers where they would be put in solitary and guarded by the Federal Marshals.

Jarvis spoke to Davis that the scene was clear for CSIs to come up; the wounded man was taken to the infirmary at Rikers.

Kate said, "Let's get me out of here. How am I leaving?"

Jarvis stepped closer, put his hand over his microphone and motioned for her to do the same. When she did, he said, we have a chopper on the roof now. SUV's on the first floor. What's your choice?"

"Same pilot as before?"

"Yup."

"Chopper."

"Okay, I'm with ya, let's go."

"Hold on a second, I'm going to call Espo," Kate replied reaching for her phone.

Jarvis said, "Okay, I'll wait."

Kate touched the speed dial, it rang and Espo answered, "Beckett, you OK?"

"Yes, I'm on my way up to leave by chopper. You see any problems with that?"

"Nope. It looks clear to us. But are you sure you want to ride with this guy?"

"Why?"

"He barely made it onto the helipad."

"Espo, go up to the chopper, look friendly, it might be either our rogue SWAT Lieutenant, or one of his hit squad. Get him out of it and cuff him. When you've done that, call me to come up. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize."

"Roger that."

Beckett's phone rang about two minutes later, it was Espo who said, "Beckett, this guy isn't Hudson, but he's part of Hudson's rogue team."

Beckett turned to Jarvis and said, "You need to get someone on the roof to shut that chopper down. The pilot was part of the rogue hit team. I wouldn't be surprised if it was rigged to explode and the pilot doesn't know it. These people really are that ruthless."

Jarvis said, "So I suppose you will be taking the SUV?" and grinned.

Kate removed the helmet cam, laid it on the stairs, turned it off, then pulled out her CIA phone and said, "I'm going to call my own ride."

She headed rapidly down the stairs and punched the redial key.

Danberg answered, "Detective?"

"Give a girl a ride home?"

"First floor, back entrance, four minutes."

"I'll be there," she replied and headed down the stairs as fast as she could. She called Rick and told him to meet her there.

She waited for Rick well back from the door, had him stay behind her as she approached the back door carefully, staying to one side till she saw Danberg coming with three SUV's, one of which had the license plate ending in 075. She headed for that one, jumped in the back seat, slid over to make room for Rick, and was relieved to see Danberg in the passenger seat. She made sure the M4 was on safe and struggled into her seat belt as the car rocketed into traffic.

Danberg said, "I am authorized to tell you we have the CIA personnel involved in this contained. I can promise you they will not be causing any more trouble. Hudson's hit squad is out of commission; you got the last one of them, the pilot that was supposed to abduct you from the roof. The one remaining was in the SUV in front of the building; Jarvis was tipped off and is taking him into custody as we speak. Hudson will turn himself in, with some help, about the time you arrive back at the loft. He will be dumped out of a vehicle on the street in front of the Twelfth bound hand and foot with a note taped over his mouth. Gates should have already received an envelope with all the evidence required to convict him."

Kate said, "I owe you big time."

Danberg said, "No, you don't, but we consider we have made a reasonable down payment on paying you back what we owe for you not taking us public and for trusting us to deal with our own problem. You have made friends at every level of Langley, including myself. Please keep that phone; take the battery and sim card out. Put the parts in a safe place. Who knows, someday you just might need it again. If you have it assembled, you were right; it hears everything that goes on in the vicinity, and then some. The bug frequency is monitored continuously whether the phone is on or not, just in case it comes on. If you assemble it, you don't have to call; we'll know what's going on."

"Thank you," she said.

He nodded.

At that moment, they careened into the garage below Castle's loft, Rick and Kate jumped out and headed for the elevator to be met by the officer from the front door detail who accompanied them up in the elevator.

She found the door open with Alexis waiting literally with open arms. There were hugs all around before Kate could set the M4 down and beg for a chance to get out of her vest and extra gear.

Castle stepped back and said, "Okay, take it off, the gear that is, for now."

"Eweuuuuuuuuuu, TMI, Dad." was Alexis's laughing response. Then she added in a more serious tone, "You have no idea how glad I am to have you back here safe and sound. I heard all that on the helmet cam up until you turned it off. When your picture and audio went off, Jarvis told Shaw you took out a strange phone and headed down the stairs. Shaw said she thought she knew what you were up to and maybe you had called for the same ride back as brought you. Apparently you did."

Kate said, "I did. They got us there and back in one piece. They also took out the hit squad being led by the rogue Lieutenant Hudson. He was supposedly dumped out of a car in front of the Twelfth bound hand and foot, gagged, with a note taped to his mouth. Gates is supposed to have an envelope with the evidence to convict him."

"Who are you talking about?" Alexis asked.

"The people you never heard of," Kate said. "I'd love to introduce you to them, but to tell you about them would be a federal crime."

"Got it," Alexis said, "The people you never talked to on the phone I never heard of."

"Bingo. I'm going to put this M4 in the corner of the bedroom again and this vest and ammo next to it. Then I'm going to take off this blasted ankle holster. It felt like I was being forced to run up steps with weights on my ankle. I'm heading for the bedroom and my shoulder holster."

Rick said, "I need to get rid of all this stuff I'm wearing too."

Kate replied, "We need to call Shaw and see what the status is assuming she has time to talk to us. That woman is stretched so thin I suspect you can see through her."

06/22/2012

**EN: Please let me know what you think.**


	17. Thank You

Castle After 4x23 / FW

26

**AN: Last chapter. It's been a really fun ride for me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.**

**I just had to answer the question and, for me at least, I did. Now we get to see how Andrew Marlow and company answer it, hopefully in the first few episodes beginning September 24th, 2012 (at least here in the US). **

**I owe a huge thank you to PatriciaLouise and Gwynne for mentoring me through this process. Sometimes I'd send them two or three, or more chapters at a time to beta for me. I pretty much had a rough draft of the whole story including this chapter before the first chapter was published. The first thing I wrote was the Prolog. The second was the Epilog. The rest was created to link the two together.**

**I own nothing of Covert Affairs or the characters. **

**Chapter 17 - Thank You**

Three hours of watching the activity on the board and television later, Kate went into the master bath, stripped off her clothes, turned on the shower, and got in. The hot water felt really good. She let it run on her head, turned, held her face in her hands and let it beat on her neck and shoulders. She could feel the tension start to melt away. She desperately needed it gone, even for a minute. It felt like she'd been constantly under stress ever since she got home that night so many years ago. She wanted it over. It was going to be over; but it wasn't over yet.

She jumped a little when the shower door slid sideways and peeked to see a familiar pair of feet and legs step in behind her. She felt his hands on her shoulders gently massage the tense muscles and gradually she began to relax.

Twenty minutes later they stepped out of the shower, he gently her toweled her off and said, "Go to bed, Kate. I'll be there in a minute. I just need to make sure Alexis and Agent Martin are all set."

Kate nodded and allowed herself to be put in bed and tucked in. She was vaguely aware of him joining her a few minutes later; his reassuring presence allowed her to drift off into peaceful dreamless sleep. She awoke some time during the night with her arm asleep from how she was lying with it bent. She turned to face Castle and drifted back off to sleep.

Her next moment of awareness came with the aroma of fresh coffee and a soft knock on the door. Alexis announced, "I put coffee on the desk and will close the office door. It's 6:30 a.m., and really exciting stuff is happening you might want to know about."

Kate called out, "Thanks, Lex," swung her legs out of bed in the pitch black, windowless room and felt her way to the bathroom door. She thought they really needed some sort of small, dim night light. She could hear Castle stirring and then blinked when the momentarily blinding bathroom light came on. She saw herself in the mirror and noticed some of the bruising was starting to fade, a welcome sign. With enough light to find the bedroom door, she streaked to the office and retrieved both cups of coffee. She had mercy on Rick and said, "Sweetheart, if you sit up, I'll hand you this cup."

He made noises but sat up, rearranged his pillows to lean back, and she handed him the coffee. He took a sip and then asked, "Want a reward?"

Kate said, "Of course," and leaned forward for a kiss.

When he tried for more she said, "I want to get out there and see what Alexis was talking about. Maybe Shaw's big takedown is underway? It should be; we got the top people yesterday. I'd think most of it was happening about the same time."

Rick said, "I'll be there in a few minutes. I want to sit here and drink this and think."

"What you thinking about?"

"Us. How much I am really truly enjoying us. Life has been going by at warp speed since you showed up at my door a few nights ago; I just want to spend a couple of minutes contemplating it. Now and then I just need to stop and drink the coffee."

Kate looked at him, listened to the peaceful sound in his voice and asked, "May I sit next to you and drink the coffee while you sit and think?"

"I think that would be perfect. Just come sit by me, hold hands, and enjoy the coffee and a peaceful moment."

They did. When the coffee was gone, they found something else to share. Then a shower to share, and finally, an hour after Alexis' knock on the door, Kate and Rick walked holding hands toward the kitchen for refills. On the way there, they saw Alexis and Kim paying rapt attention to the various videos playing on the big display board. Even that didn't make them want to hurry. Kate refilled the cups while Rick made some toast. They brought the toast with them to sit and see what had Alexis and Kim so focused.

Kate asked, "Would one of you catch us up on what's going on?"

Alexis said, "Oh my gosh. We've been watching nearly all night. I took a three hour nap in the middle of the night but couldn't stay away. Apparently while you were involved with the arrest of 'The Circle', Shaw with Interpol and national police agencies in a dozen countries, have orchestrated the arrest of over a hundred major criminals and a bunch of their lesser criminal accomplices. There are rumors the CIA was involved but nothing substantial about that. Mom, you and Dad are the real story. The common thread is that the two of you laid the ground work for the federal investigation that blossomed into this huge criminal take down. They are saying by the time it's over, close to a thousand people will be tried worldwide, about half of them US citizens. The FBI has admitted to seizing over three billion dollars of assets, but Kim and I think, privately mind you, it's probably closer to double that if the truth were told.

"You two are going to have a heck of time walking down the street without being mobbed by fans and paparazzi. Mom, they have pictures of you. I have no idea how they were taken, and somehow videos of you in action have gone viral on the internet. Your take down of Oxley on YouTube is over two million views already. The bloggers are talking about you like a cross between a female Sherlock Holms and Jason Bourne. They are talking about Dad like he was Jamison Rook on steroids – they have a picture of Dad in a combat vest holding one of those black rifles. Even the FBI spokes people say they couldn't have done it without you two."

Kate looked at Kim for confirmation. Kim said, "She's maybe understated it a little, but that's more or less what's going on out in the real world."

"Understated? Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely understated it. Just look at these headlines. And these aren't tabloids: here's the Journal, also the Times; you are famous folks. Enjoy it."

Kate said, "Yeah, right. Nobody will know who I am a month from now."

Kim just said, "We'll see. You need to get your laptop running with some writing software on it; people will write your story, and you need to get it out there first. The twenty-four hour news cycle talking heads are arguing about who should play you in the movie for cripes sakes."

Rick said, "Maybe you should ask for a three month leave of absence to recover from all this and write the book? Telling the story could be exactly the catharsis you need to finally get over this."

"I'll think about it. I don't see how they could say no. Oxley can't profit from his crimes, but I sure can tell my story. And I'd love to endow the fund you set up in my mother's name to keep it going long after I'm gone. Rick, sometime in the next few days, I'd like to talk to someone in the publishing business about doing the book. I need to know if we're smoking something, or if they might really be interested in letting me tell the story."

"Let you tell it? Trust me on this, sweetheart, they will be interested enough to offer you millions of reasons to tell your story. I'll make a few calls to see who might be the best publisher for a book like yours."

Just then the phone rang. Kate recognized Shaw's number and answered it, "Morning, Jordan."

"Could have fooled me. Is it daylight out?"

"Knowing what to do with your copious free time isn't a problem?"

"Definitely not. Kate, I need you to show up for a news conference. The Bureau is going to have to make a statement, and I really want you to be there."

"Do I have to say anything?"

"Probably not. Just take a bow. There will be all sorts of people who want to make speeches. You just need to be present."

"Is it safe? I'm not in a hurry to get shot again."

"We are going to hold it indoors in a high school auditorium. We had Agents there 2 hours before we announced the news conference, so nobody would have gotten in ahead of time. Everybody that gets in will go through a metal detector. Trust me on this, the Marshal's service is determined nothing will happen to you. I've never seen them quite so militant about protecting someone as they are about you."

"If I can bring Rick with me, I'll come. He's been an integral part of this, and I want him by my side. I need him by my side."

"That would be perfect. Don't bother to dress up. I told them you would be armed or you wouldn't appear, so wear whatever pistol you want, but I'd leave the M4 in the loft."

"What time?"

"I want you in the building five minutes before it starts at 2 p.m. You don't want to fight your way through the crowd. There is a place you can land in a chopper out back of the auditorium, and you can leave the same way. I'll have the chopper pick you up at 1:45 p.m; it's about a ten minute ride. The pilot, same one as before, will call you with details."

"Hang on a minute." She put the phone on mute and asked, "Rick, you good with this."

"You need me there, I'm there."

She took the phone off mute, "We're a go. I'm going to be in jeans, a button shirt with a sport jacket of some sort over my shoulder holster, and running shoes. That good enough? I hope so because it's what I have that isn't full of bullet holes."

"That's perfect. See you there. I've got to go." The call ended.

Kate turned to Rick and said, "We need to figure out how to manage our exposure. I need to be able to do my job when this dies down."

"It may not be the same job. But that will be what it will be. I think now is the wrong time to think about that. Get the book written; it will open up all sorts of opportunities for you."

Kim said, "I don't have an oar in the water here, but I'd love to write the forward to your book for you."

Kate said, "That is a very generous offer. I can't promise anything right now, but the thought of you doing that has a lot of appeal to me."

Alexis said, "I want a chance to write the first paragraph of the Prologue."

Kate laughed and said, "How could I not write a book now?"

Rick said, "I'll make some calls before the news conference. Might as well pre-empt wanna-be authors of your story by cutting them off at the knees. The news conference will be televised. If the publishers see that and know you are going to write the story, they won't want to spend five cents on anybody else's efforts. They will know even if you can't write, they can take your book and edit it into a best seller with your picture on the cover. But I know you can write it."

Kate said, "I'll be interested to hear what you learn. Meanwhile, I want to watch a bit of this most amazing reality TV show that's taken over all the networks full time complete with pontificating bobble heads."

Kate turned back to the murder board while Rick picked up his phone and poked at the front of it as he walked toward his office.

# # #

Kate and Rick arrived at the front door of the building ready to go about thirty seconds before they heard the chopper approaching. The Marshal at the door held them back till the chopper was almost down and then said, "Go."

They sprinted toward the machine and arrived a few seconds after the skids were firmly on the ground. The door slid open as they approached. Jarvis moved back across the seat out of their way as they jumped in, and then he reached across them to show Rick where to pull the door shut. Rick pulled, and the chopper launched as the door came shut. Kate held onto him to help keep him in his seat, and before they knew it, they were above the buildings headed for the news conference.

Kate regretted the backup Glock in the ankle holster but had it at Rick's request. He'd argued that while he couldn't legally carry the gun, it made sense for him to have access to one. She'd agreed, so it was in the ankle holster, but it did not make sprinting any fun. There were lighter guns, but the Glock 26 could use the spare magazines for her Glock 19, and that was a huge advantage should they be in a fire fight that required a reload. All this passed through Kate's mind in a second as she struggled to get her belt fastened. Once that was done, she greeted Supervisory Special Agent Jarvis, "Agent Jarvis, glad to see you. You will be accompanying us to the conference?"

"Not on stage. I wish you were in a tactical vest, but I've agreed to be part of your protection detail. We have more there for you than we do for the Mayor and the Governor."

"Mayor and Governor?"

"That isn't the half of it. The Police Commissioner, Captain Gates, and Jordon Shaw will also be there. If you stand still, they may not even know you are there, which I'm guessing would suit you just fine."

"It would. I want to work homicides again, and I can't do it if the paparazzi are following me around like Angelina Jolie."

"They might. You are in real life what she plays on the screen."

"Thanks, but that's not how I want to operate. I like putting perps behind bars. I like bringing some semblance of peace to the families of victims. I know how they feel."

"I know you do. But that doesn't take away from what you and Mr. Castle did on this case. The two of you broke wide open the biggest criminal conspiracy since the fall of the Third Reich. That has to count someplace on the list above catching a serial killer even if you only count the human trafficking part."

"I suppose. Hopefully they won't see it that way, and I can hide behind all those over fed politicians. Except the Mayor. I've played poker with him, and I like him. He's a good guy."

"You've played poker with the Mayor?"

"Yup. He's a good buddy of my fiancé Richard Castle here."

"You guys are engaged?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Right after the shootout at the warehouse."

He leaned forward, reached across Kate to shake Castle's hand and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Castle. You have a genuine keeper in this lady."

Rick took his hand and replied, "Thank you. I definitely do."

Kate saw the building coming, felt the chopper's attitude change, and asked the pilot, "Mr. Pilot, Special Aerobatic Agent Sean Baker, sir, do we need to hang on extra tight again?"

He laughed and said, "No, this will be a more or less conventional approach. Where we are landing is a rather steep vertical approach into the crook of the building; they want you to have a short walk to the building. Agent Jarvis will explain."

Kate turned to Jarvis who said, "I'll get out first. You and Mr. Castle stay on my right so I'm between you and the break in the building while we move toward the door. Don't run, just walk smartly and we'll be fine."

Kate acknowledged, "Got it. Rick?"

"Understand," he answered.

Then they approached at a rather steep angle of descent, but Kate could pick out about where they were would land. When they were about five feet off the ground, the pilot hovered and turned the bird ninety degrees before setting it down so the exit door with Jarvis would be next to the building with the body of the chopper protecting them as they exited. Kate appreciated the effort and expertise.

Then Jarvis opened the door on his side, jumped out, offered Kate a hand which she accepted, then Rick. When they were on the ground they moved as described and were in the door in less than thirty seconds from touchdown. Kate heard the chopper's turbine spooling down and the rotors slowing, so she asked Jarvis, "He going to wait for us?"

"Yup. He's going to sit right there in his seat ready to lift off with five minutes' notice. He'll restart the engine when you go on stage and have the turbine idling at temperature so we can extract you before the other VIPs that have choppers circling or waiting on the roof-top helipads."

"I don't understand, why me?"

"For my money, you two and Shaw are the only real crime fighters on that stage. You are unique in this crowd, lady. Us grunts intend to keep you and your man alive. Period."

Kate looked at him for a moment as they headed up the stair well and said, "Thank you. That may be the nicest thing anybody we respect has ever said about us."

Then they were just off the side of the stage. The big wigs were already seated, and the Governor sounded like his speech might be winding down. Kate saw the Mayor approach also back stage. He spotted them and walked over. He said, "Ricky, glad to see you. Detective Beckett, it's an honor." They shook hands; Kate was speechless because she could sense this wasn't going to be as advertised.

Then she turned to Rick and said, "Honey, I don't think we will be able to hide."

The Mayor said, "Perfect timing. The Governor just finished his speech; it was pretentious enough for all of us. Let's get this over with."

The Mayor walked out on the stage, stepped up to the microphones, thanked the Governor, and gave a short introductory speech.

Because it was a news conference, there was no cheering. This was the biggest news story running worldwide. The audience was composed of news reporters for every major news outlet on the planet. There were microphones all over the front of the podium. There were, by Kate's estimate, five hundred people in the audience plus a big row of TV cameras and still photographers with long lenses. None of the big long lens cameras were allowed closer than the fourth row of seats along the back of the auditorium.

The Mayor continued, "Thank you all for coming here to hear the story. We appreciate your patience. We have a ten page printed press release that will be given to you as you exit. We had planned to have it ready for you when you arrived but, quite frankly, we couldn't get it printed in time. You can leave your e-mail address, or press card and we will arrange for it to be e-mailed to you as well.

"First I'm going to introduce the two law enforcement officers and the unpaid consultant that were at the heart of this investigation.

"Second, I'm going to read a statement to give you an outline of what has happened over the last week.

"Third, the three may choose to give a short statement and may or may not, their choice, answer a few questions. We have promised them they won't have to be subjected to this for more than fifteen minutes. They are pretty much exhausted. You will understand why in a few moments."

He turned to where Kate, Shaw, and Castle were standing and asked, "Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jordon Shaw, NYPD Homicide Detective Katherine Beckett, and Mr. Richard Castle, would you please join me?"

Jordon lead them on stage, Rick and Kate, walking side-by-side, followed. The audience was dead quiet, but the flashbulbs were blinding.

The Mayor said, "The lady to your left, my right, is FBI Special Agent Jordon Shaw. She was in charge of the investigation. The lady in the middle is Detective Katherine Beckett of the NYPD Twelfth Precinct. She led the investigation for the NYPD and was personally involved in all the major takedowns locally. You may have seen the YouTube video of her stopping the sniper at the warehouse, diving over a desk to takedown an armed Congressman Oxley, and at the arrest of the members of 'The Circle'. Special Agent Jordon Shaw has told me Detective Beckett was the person most directly involved in leading the initial phases of this investigation."

Somebody started to applaud, and in two seconds the whole place exploded with applause and cheering and a standing ovation from the hardened news pros there to ask questions. The noise was so loud and unexpected the Mayor took an involuntary step back. Eventually he was able to get some semblance of calm and continued, "Finally, the man standing to my left, your right, is New York Times Best Selling author Richard Castle. Agent Shaw and Captain Gates tell me Mr. Castle put forth the theory that was the basis for taking down this huge criminal conspiracy. Detective Beckett and Agent Shaw both said they had no idea he had figured it out until he talked them through it just four days ago.

"Now, please hold your questions. I will have my press secretary read a statement. Then I'll return for a few questions, after which I'll ask if Detective Beckett, Agent Shaw, and Mr. Castle will take questions. We left it up to them. When they are done, we have both FBI and NYPD communications people here to answer questions."

The press secretary read a statement that was a little over two pages in length. It accurately, if very generally, outlined the events leading from the murder of the burglar that had robbed Montgomery's house to the huge criminal conspiracy that was broken up. He said there were lots of details that couldn't be told before the trials were held, but he was sure that would all come out during the trial.

Finally, just when Kate thought she'd fall asleep standing up, she heard the Mayor ask them if they would be willing to answer a few questions.

They had quietly discussed it among themselves while the statement was read and agreed they would answer a few questions, so they walked forward to stand by the microphone. The Mayor shook their hands, stepped back, allowed his press secretary to take center stage, but he stayed close enough to answer questions if that was required.

The press secretary said, "I'll point to you and say your name if I know it. Please ask one question, short enough we don't forget what it was before you finish." There was a chuckle from the audience, and then he asked the three of them, "Do any of you wish to make a statement?"

Jordon shook her head, no, Rick did the same,

Kate nodded yes, much to the surprise of the other two,; she stepped to the podium and said, "Yes, I would." The applause started again; Kate held up her hands and slowly shook her head which, to everyone's surprise, caused it to quiet right down like she had flipped a switch. When the Press Secretary nodded for her to proceed she said, "Applause for me is not appropriate. This was a total team effort between the FBI, the NYPD, The Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency. All these agencies coordinated with each other and all of them pulled hard on their oar or this would not have happened. Unfortunately only four members of the core team, Special Agent Shaw, Mr. Castle, Captain Gates and me, are here on stage. I have some people who I would like to thank, and I want to mention the others who played key roles in making possible what the team managed to accomplish.

"First, and foremost, I want to thank Captain Victoria Gates of the Twelfth precinct. Without her support this would not have happened. Next, I'd like to thank the other two detectives on my team, Detective Javier Esposito and Detective Kevin Ryan – I owe them more than I can ever repay. I would like to thank Patrol Officer Ann Hastings who applied her special skills to the case and made discoveries that quite literally saved all our lives and the lives of countless innocent people. I'd also like to thank Special Agent Kimberly Martin who is a genius with a computerized murder board and my fiancé's daughter, Alexis Castle, for her insight at key times in the investigation.

"I'd also like to thank the helicopter pilot, Special Agent Sean Baker, for going above and beyond to make sure we got where we were going in one piece with no bullet holes. Fox news had a video of one of the many incredible landing approaches he made to keep us safe from sniper fire. Our heartfelt thanks goes to the security team of nearly thirty-five Federal Marshal's, FBI Agents and NYPD officers who worked around the clock and kept us safe and alive to conduct this investigation. We had a price on our heads; these people had a very difficult time keeping us alive. I can't tell you how much we appreciate their dedication to that task. And at the warehouse and the arrest of the members of The Circle, we owe a big debt of gratitude to NYPD Captain Davis of the SWAT mobile command center for his support in difficult situations.

"Finally, I owe special thanks to Special Agents Jarvis and Jones, and the mobile unit of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team who literally put their bodies between us and bullets to keep us safe."

She finished by saying, "Okay, we'll take questions now." There was a moment of silence then the hands went up and the questions started. The press secretary took charge, and it went smoothly.

The question and answer session lasted about fifteen minutes. The questions were about equally split between Kate, Jordon and Rick. When the time was up, the press secretary ended the session, and the three of them walked right off stage and headed for the stairs. When they got off stage, one of the press secretaries tried to flag them down making officious statements about a press conference for selected reporters. Beckett just shook her head, pulled out her phone, called the pilot and said, "Sean, light the fires," when he answered.

He replied, "Fire is lit. I'll be ready to lift off in three minutes. How many?"

"Shaw, Castle, Beckett, Jarvis if he's still in the area."

"You go to the other front seat, put the rest in back. Jarvis is waiting for you just inside on the roof. He will walk you out to the bird like he walked you in, climb in last and shut the door."

"10-4. Out." Beckett broke the connection.

They made it to the door; the pilot waved them out; it all went according to plan. Castle and Shaw climbed in back; the blades accelerated the last few rpm, and the pilot lifted them out of there with his usual verve.

Kate looked around as they cleared the nearby buildings and headed in the direction of the loft and said, "Nice day."

The pilot said, "You four are the most famous passengers I've ever had. Thanks for the complement, Detective."

"You earned it. If there is anything we can do for you let us know. Rick and I will both be there."

Kate turned to look at Shaw and said, "Come in for a glass of wine and a bit of a discussion over where this goes now."

"That sounds wonderful, but I really need to get back in the fray. I can hear things hitting the floor while I'm gone."

# # #

Agent Baker swooped in with the helicopter to drop them off right in front of the Mobile Command Center that was still parked in front of the building where Castle's loft was located. Beckett shouted "Thanks." They hopped out and ran through the door as the chopper lifted off behind them.

The officer on the ground floor guarding the elevator said, "You guys were incredible. We all listened on the radio. The reporters loved you guys."

"So did the brass," Beckett replied.

"That has to be good, right?" the officer asked.

"It is," she replied. Then they were in the elevator and headed up to the 4th floor. Rick had Alexis on the phone, so when they got to the door it swung open before they could touch it.

Alexis, with Kim for backup, was there waiting for them. Alexis looked at them and picked her Dad for the first hug. Kate moved past them into the loft. Alexis broke off and came over to give Kate a hug. Then she looked at Kim with her arms wrapped around Kate and said, "Do I have the most awesome kick-ass-tough-chick-ninja-mom on the planet?"

Kim replied, "You certainly do."

Alexis backed away and said, "Kim and I watched it all. It was awesome."

Castle headed for his office. Kate and Alexis headed for the board where Kim had the news conference recorded. Kate was amazed at how sure of herself she looked, and she was a bit chagrined that her Glock in the shoulder holster showed more than once. She said, "Nuts, the gun showed."

Alexis said, "It just looks totally hot and in character. With all the video of you diving over desks and shooting people that has been on the web and the news, you really don't expect anybody to be shocked that you are carrying a gun do you?"

"Not really I suppose. But I was one of the only cops on that stage that was packing. I wouldn't go if they didn't let me have my gun."

Just then Castle came back to join them and said, "Kate, you have a minute to join me in my office?"

She looked at him and wondered what he had in mind, but he just shook his head and walked back toward the office. When they got there, he closed the door and said, "I think you will find this interesting and brought up three e-mail messages from three different publishers. All of them had been sent since the news conference. Kate read the e-mail he had sent the three publishers. It told them to watch the news conference and mentioned she was interested in writing a book about her life and the case. All three companies wanted to offer her a contract for her book. She didn't understand the contract language at first and said, "Rick, what's the bottom line."

He said, "The offers after the news conference are an advance of 12 million dollars plus or minus a million, a royalty of 20% of the publisher's wholesale price, for a book minimum of 100,000 words, first draft in 100 days. They want it flying off the shelves during the trial. The smaller advance may ultimately be worth more because it includes a higher royalty and a bigger initial printing by a factor of two.

"They will all provide real time editing if you wish, which means a full time editor, but I'd wait on that until you have it pretty much all written and hire your own editor - you want to get your story on the page first, and then the editor helps you tell it well. Too early and the editor shapes the story told, not just how the story is told.

"I'd see if you can get Kim to give you a dump from that board out there that will serve as the research base. This is non-fiction, so you just have to wrap your human interest story around the verified details of the conspiracy and the crimes being committed. Names, dates, and exact chronology are critical. I wouldn't try for the whole thing; I'd focus on Oxley, Coonan, Raglan, McAllister, and Maddox. I think you will have trouble keeping it down to one hundred thousand words truth be told. It's up to you, but if you want to include our relationship in there, it adds an element of human interest and angst that ought to push it over the top in sales."

Kate asked, "It's a lot of money, but is that a good offer? I have no clue."

Rick said, "I'm not sure if it's the best you can do, but it's three times the best advance offer I've ever gotten for a single book, and I've written twenty-two New York Times best sellers. These three are also publishers that will be straight with you and won't screw you over when it comes to television and movie rights. Those rights ought to be worth at least the amount of the advance and then some, especially if you agree to be a consultant on the movie, work promotions and walk the red carpet for the premiere. In round numbers you stand to make between eighteen and twenty million dollars for your first, and maybe only, book if you strike while the iron is hot. At that point you can pick and choose your future. Never work again, cherry pick cases as an unpaid consultant to whoever needs help, decide to write fiction, whatever you want. I'm right there in your corner whatever you decide."

"Rick, would you still want to marry me?"

"Oh my yes. Of course. Book or no book. We agreed we are a done deal - nothing we discuss now or in the future has us anything but together. It's only about how you want to live your life with me. How we want to live our lives. I have a contract to finish out with Black Pawn, but after that, if we joined our resources we wouldn't have to work again. The fly in the ointment is I want to write. Kate, I love writing. It's a passion for me."

"I would never ask you to stop writing. But this is a big rock in the pond, and I had to ask. Nothing on this planet is worth more to me than us being together. Nothing. I want to do the book. Will you help me if I get stuck?"

"Absolutely. It's your story, but I may be able to help with words or ways of saying things when you are finding it hard in places."

"Is there some writing software that I can use to organize the data, outline the story, and help me keep it all straight while I write?"

"Yup. There are several programs on the market. They are inexpensive but they work remarkably well. I sometimes use one called WriteWay Professional. It integrates everything together."

"Can I have a place to set up here, a place I can call my own to have my computer so I can have a time to write each day? I'm moving in here and letting the apartment go as soon as I can clear it out."

"Of course. You are a visual person. I'll fix you up with a computer that has multiple screens. Trust me, you will love it. I'll also see if I can duplicate the FBI murder board with databases behind it, so you can have it linked into your writing computer for reference as you write. You will want to footnote parts of the book rather extensively. Other parts, you will be able to do just plunking away on a laptop in the Hamptons because they will be your feelings and experiences from your memories. I'll get you a good laptop as well. I'll also arrange for automatic backup so your data is automatically backed up both here in the loft and at two remote locations."

"Can we sit down and talk about this over coffee after I've had a day or two to think about it. I might need to write something for practice to get used to the equipment and software. I'm not the computer person you are. One more thing, how do I go about finding an agent? I need one, right?"

"You do and you don't. But I'd recommend both an agent and a good publishing savvy lawyer. They won't be cheap, but they will help you avoid most of the pitfalls and safe guard your rights to a movie, TV series, or whatever other way the story is told after the book is published."

# # #

Waking into that semi-conscious state between asleep and fully awake, Kate found herself pleasantly nestled against Rick with thoughts about both the day to come and recent history. It had been three weeks before she began to think it might be safe to venture out without a vest. That was three weeks ago. In that six weeks time, a lot had happened. She had requested and been granted a four month recovery leave with a provision that included keeping her badge and gun. Gates agreed it would be foolish for Beckett to be running around unarmed. They also gave Castle a concealed carry permit good in all of New York State including the city, and he'd added a Utah permit, but he seldom used them preferring to rely on Kate having her gun. He had initially been excited to have the permit, but soon discovered 'packing' required changes in dress and lifestyle he found irritating when there was Kate right beside him with her gun. Because Kate had a badge, concealment wasn't all that much of an issue which allowed her to carry hers much more comfortably, and in places Castle couldn't carry even with a permit. So after an initial flurry of holsters and guns, he put the holsters in a drawer and locked the guns up in his new safe. He did, however, still have a shotgun in both their bedroom and Alexis's bedroom in a one gun finger print operated safe. He'd taken himself and Alexis to the FrontSight, a training school for armed self-defense and gun safety, to give her the basics of handgun and shotgun training.

The management at FrontSight offered to include Kate at no charge but she turned them down. When Castle asked why she said, "They just want to claim me as a student in their advertising. I've been in and survived more non-military gun fights than their entire staff added up. I suspect you have too if the truth were known, but it will be a very good thing for Alexis and you should be there with her."

They had watched, two days after 'The Circle' was arrested, as Special Agent Martin moved the murder board out and left to head back to Tucson where her normal duty station was located. Before she left, with Shaw's permission, she had prepared a dump of the entire unclassified contents of the board files related to the case. She used a file structure that made it easy to load it into Castle's home grown murder board or the most pertinent parts into the research portion of Kate's writing software. It gave Kate an unimpeachable resource for insuring the accuracy of her book. Martin also reiterated her offer to write the forward for Kate's book. Kate accepted on the condition that she was still free to choose another writer for that task if that turned out to be advantageous. Kim's reply was, "No problem. I'll write it; I'd be honored if you end up using it, but if you don't, no hard feelings." She was, Kate thought, a true friend.

She had signed a contract with a publisher day before yesterday after two weeks of negotiation through her new Agent, vetted by Castle and his poker buddies Patterson and Connelly. She marveled that she was actually invited to play poker with them as part of the process of discussing the three agent candidates she had on her short list. Patterson and Connelly seemed to regard her as the celebrity when they came to Castle's loft for the game because she still wasn't willing to leave. Since she hadn't actually signed a contract at the time, they modified the stakes of the game.

At one point they were both looking at her rather intently which caused her to feel uncomfortable and ask, "What?"

The two visiting authors looked at each other and then Patterson said, "Detective, you are the real deal. A genuine tough guy in the persona of a delightful and very charming lady. What you see is what you get. That is both really unusual and truly refreshing. It's an honor to know you."

She remembered being very pleased by their encouragement to go ahead with her project while gently insisting that time was of the essence; the content of the book was a perishable commodity. Kate understood which is why she had already outlined the book.

The publisher was very pleased with the outline she had prepared. She was able to use it as a negotiating tool. The publisher had found her an editor: an older lady that she could connect with and who had a tremendous track record in terms of best selling non-fiction books she had edited. They had offered to pay for the editor, but on Castle's advice, she hired the editor to work exclusively for her so there wouldn't be any confusion about whose story it was, or who the boss was.

The outline had come easily to her with help from Alexis and Castle. Neither had wanted to alter the content of the book, but both had suggestions for how to better tell the story. She had outlined the story in pretty much chronological order at first. Then she moved chapters around and they persuaded her add some that developed different story lines in parallel. Both Rick and Alexis suggested she add side bars to a couple of chapters where it was critical to understand several things in detail that happened simultaneously, so the story had more appeal.

Castle had insisted that she write a one page description of each chapter plus a list of the sources to be used for information. That had taken the most time before the negotiation, and was the hardest part for her. Alexis had helped her search the data from Agent Martin to verify references. She included the timeline and flow chart of Oxley's career that Castle had created as a fold out figure with attribution to Castle.

The contract explicitly left her totally in control of the book and as the sole owner of it for purposes of movies, television, or future television character development based on her life.

The day after the contract was signed; Rick had re-arranged his living room to make room for Kate to set up a work station. He offered her the guest room, or to rearrange his office but she declined both offers. She said she wouldn't be comfortable disrupting his office. It was his creative sanctuary. She didn't want to take over the guest room because she thought they ought to have a guest room; plus she wanted to be near the center of family activity where she could feel a part of it, even when she was working on the book.

Rick had purchased a desk, writing table, two book cases, desk top computer with a pair of 30 inch monitors, writing software, Microsoft Office, and other software she might find useful. The computer was set up for automatic backup both onsite and off and included a RAID 1 hard disk setup. He had also moved his upgraded murder board out of his office to be just to one side, so she only had to turn her head ninety degrees to see it all. Then he purchased two decorative portable partition screens that separated her space from the living room, gave her some privacy and kept visitor's eyes off her desktop.

Kate had worked with her new lawyer and accountant to arrange how best to handle the advance and other monies as part of the original negotiations with her publisher. She insisted they set up the contract so that Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, Montgomery's wife, Hastings and Gates each got a half million dollar cashier's check paid to them from the publisher as consultants. Kate had called them all to the loft to celebrate the book contact and had the publisher's business agent and hers there to present them with the checks in return for them signing a contract to read and comment on the manuscript. It was a contract, and not against the NYPD rules as it wasn't a gift. It was a well-paid contract for something they would have done for free, but when she came back, Kate didn't want to be the only one with a few bucks. Jenny, discernibly pregnant, was in tears because it meant they could afford a much nicer place to raise their child. Lanie because it meant she could pay off her college loans, Montgomery's wife because it guaranteed college for her children, and Esposito because it meant he could afford more than a one room apartment.

What was left was a still a lot of money. She was still staggered by the thought that her after tax net worth – after the gifts – was still over six million dollars. All the arrangements had taken precious time but, in the end, were worth every minute of it. She found out being a multimillionaire was not simple. Lawyer, accountant, investment advisor, agent, she owned more in payroll to these people than she had made in two years as a police detective. She would be getting paid her salary when she returned to work, she realized, but with her new situation, she was pretty much in the position of Castle, unpaid by comparison to her other income streams.

The movie people were hot after her to sign a deal. Their pleas were made even more urgent by her having been awarded the NYPD Medal Of Honor, the departments highest award, but she wanted to have most of the book written first. They were arguing that they didn't need the whole detailed book; they just needed an outline to tell as much story as they could in ninety minutes. They really, really, wanted to have the movie come out before the trial was over. The movie offers would double her net worth. The agent urged her to make the deal now because the value would never be higher.

Finally, with the real-estate market in the tank, some of her investments were in residential housing through a real-estate broker. She had gone with the recommendation but wasn't holding her breath waiting for a recovery.

She and Alexis continued to develop an even closer bond. They shopped a little together, but mostly they spent time that involved having good conversations over lunch when they could both get free. The combination of Alexis's intellect, curiosity and Kate's depth of background allowed them to have some very stimulating conversations. Kate found it to be a very pleasant way to spend time. Now and then she had gone to Alexis looking for a different viewpoint on a chapter description she was writing. Alexis turned out to be more help with that than Castle because she was not programmed to spin yarns like Rick was. Alexis was more history driven than the fantasy driven Castle.

There were times, however, when Rick would present history with a twist that she thought would tremendously increase the readability of the book. Her editor thought so too.

All this passed through her thoughts as pleasant flash backs while Kate spooned with Castle in the cave like darkness of their bedroom. The contractor had finished the window opening, and with the door shut, the room was dark as a cave a mile underground. She had a dim LED night light in the bathroom that made it barely possible to see features in the room but tremendously facilitated trips to the bathroom without turning on the lights.

She remembered with a bit of a shudder the reason the window was bullet proof and sighed. The change in her breathing stirred Rick to snuggle against her and apparently start waking up. She whispered, "You awake, sweetheart?"

"Have been for a few minutes. Just enjoying the calm and closeness before the day has to start."

"Me too. Today is the day I start to write. I think the easy part is over; now I have to go earn all that money they paid me in advance. I sure as heck can't pay it back. It's a little scary."

"No worries. Just go in there and start your fingers going on the keyboard. If you can't write anything else, write nursery rhymes. Write something, anything and let it transition to the subject. When you are done for the day, delete the irrelevant part. The important thing is to start pressing keys. The rest will take care of itself."

She flipped over to rest her head on his chest and moved up for a very satisfying good morning kiss. Rick said, "Feel like a shower?"

"Coed? Brush teeth first."

"Absolutely."

She said, "I'm in," rolled over, swung her legs off the bed and carefully picked her way to the bathroom. Rick joined her a couple of minutes later with coffee. The man was a definite keeper she thought.

An hour later, at 8 a.m., she headed into her new home office to start her first day of writing. She sat down at the computer, wiggled the mouse, watched the screen come to life, read the first paragraph of the prologue that had apparently been placed there by Alexis while she slept, and found tears streaming down her face.

She started typing through the tears and the story just flooded onto the screen almost without effort. The tears stopped but the writing went like that ten to twelve hours a day. She had trouble keeping up with her brain dumping the story out through her fingers. Rick stayed clear out of her way except in the evenings. He'd been there, done that, and knew interruptions were more than irritating.

**Epilog**

Kate met Castle for a late lunch at Maddie's restaurant after what might be her last meeting with the publisher. The book was done, completed in just three months of almost frenetic activity. Kate had, to Castle's astonishment, pounded out the first draft in twenty days of non-stop writing ten to twelve hours a day. Once, the only time he tried to get her to slow down she said, "Castle, it's flowing, I couldn't stop if I wanted to, and I don't want to. Just let me do this, please." He did, and three weeks to the day after she first read the prologue paragraph by Alexis, she had a complete first draft manuscript. She'd called the editor, Susan, and asked her to come over. When she showed up Kate offered her some coffee and invited her to preview the book on the screen.

Susan had looked at the file, scrolled, checked the word count, looked at Kate and finally said, "You have a complete 125,000 word first draft?"

"Well ... yes."

"When did you start this?"

"Uh ... twenty-one days ago today. I didn't call you yesterday because I finished it late in the evening."

"Wow. I'm going to need a couple of days just to read through it. Can I have it as an MS-WORD file on a flash drive to take with me?"

Kate said, "Sure, I've already made one for you. Its right here," and handed her the drive.

"This is Wednesday morning. I'd like to meet with you Monday morning to talk our way through at least the first couple of chapters. I should have my head around it by then."

"Great. That gives me the rest of the week off. I'm not going to punch a single key till you get back to me. I've done nothing but write ten to twelve hours a day for three weeks. I feel like my brain has been flushed into that file. This break is much needed."

That had been eight weeks ago. Susan was incredibly energetic, full of good suggestions; they worked really well together, and before Kate knew it, they had submitted the final manuscript file to the publisher with exact copies in two safety deposit boxes and saved in offsite computer data services. It was done.

It had presold over three million hard cover copies, and it had not been released to electronic media with demand still so high. In some place people were working overtime to print the book and get it distributed. To her never ending embarrassment, the advertisements, which she had no control over, portraying her as a Medal Of Honor Super Cop complete with shoulder holstered Glock peeking out from her sport coat apparently worked. Some lucky freelance photographer at the news conference had gotten the perfect shot and sold it to the publisher. She had refused to do any promotional appearances until the book was actually on the shelves. She also refused to do any in locations where she couldn't be armed.

The details of publishing the book were beyond Kate's comprehension. With the magic of electronic publishing the first copies would be on the shelves in three days, two weeks before the trial of Oxley was to start. A number of his minions had pleaded. They received only slightly reduced sentences for which they had agreed to turn state's evidence. Kate would be required to testify, but most of her testimony was related to establishing the legitimacy of the early investigation as a legal basis for all that followed. The District Attorney had no problem with the case or the pedigree of the evidentiary chain leading to the massive data of criminal activity. Oxley, for reasons best known only to him, insisted on a not-guilty plea, which was going to open the doors for an extremely revealing trial.

The DA knew what was in Kate's book. He'd read the entire 125,000 plus word manuscript more than once and used it as the basis for how he was going to present at least part of the case. The murder trial was almost secondary to the drug and human trafficking trials which would proceed after the murder trial. Surprisingly enough, the first trial was for a murder he had personally committed shortly before he ran for election the first time. The victim had been his primary campaign opponent. Kate knew nothing about that; it was in her book as a footnote, but since the investigation of that murder was fruit of the tree of the main investigation built on her work, her testimony supporting the initial warrants was required.

The movie rights negotiation had taken several weeks but almost none of her personal time. The two producers most interested wanted to do both a movie for the big screen and a TV documentary. Kate's agent held out for both to be in the same agreement fearing one would undermine the other. In any event, the amount was, as Castle had speculated earlier, at least the equal of the book deal for the movie alone, and one-and-a-half times that for the package.

The biggest news of all was that she was going back to work at the Twelfth as soon as she completed the two book promotional tours and the movie premier she was contracted to attend. She had a meeting with Gates scheduled for late that afternoon. Kate had been thinking about how she wanted to work; so had 'The Boys' and Captain Gates.

# # #

The trial behind her, Oxley in jail to await sentencing, Kate had gone to see Joe Pulgatti. She had spent some of her own money to hire a lawyer to look into his case and get the conviction she knew was false thrown out. The lawyer had called her to say he was 99% sure it was going to work, but he was a little concerned about how Pulgatti might adjust to civilian life. So Kate had paid him a visit. She told him she was concerned about his return to civilian life and wanted to work with him to make sure he went straight.

He replied, "Detective, is this all off the record?"

"Yes, if you want it to be."

"I do. What do I have to offer an employer? I was a thug before I was incarcerated. I didn't do what they convicted me of, but I could have done this time for other things. I haven't learned anything useful in here that will support me with food and a place to live. The lawyer says I can sue the city, and I will, but I'm not going to win millions. I don't want to come back here, so how do I stay out?"

"That's what I'm here for. I'd like to work with you over the next few weeks while the process grinds through to your release to figure out what you would like to do if you had a chance to do whatever you wanted to do within reason."

Pulgatti said, "I'll think about that. I'd always assumed if I ever got out, I'd be tied to a parole officer and a menial job at the fish market or something. Can we get back together in a couple of weeks?"

Kate said, "Yes, that would be good," and left.

A week later, she got a phone call in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon. It was Gates who said, "Oxley was murdered in prison."

Kate was stunned, "How could this happen?"

"Just like Lockwood. The regular prison guards were put back in charge of his security after he was found guilty. The Federal Marshals were sent back to where ever they came from."

"So someone signed a paper releasing him from Administrative Segregation to the general population?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"We don't know, the name was a fake but the document was accepted."

"How did it happen?"

"He was shanked in the exercise yard."

"Anybody know who did it?"

"Not yet, but suspicion seems to fall heavily on Joe Pulgatti who was in the yard with him at the time. Nobody saw him do it; Oxley was sitting on a bench stone dead when he was discovered. Everybody was leaving the yard about half-an-hour after he'd been put out there; he didn't get up. The CSIs and the coroner went over the body with a fine tooth comb. There is exactly zero evidence linking the murder to Pulgatti, or anybody else, but he spent a lot of time in jail because of this guy. He was the only one in the yard with a motive, but we have zero evidence."

A couple of days later Kate and Castle went together to visit Pulgatti in prison. He was brought into the interrogation room after Kate arrived. She took one look at him and knew from the gleam in his eye and the almost invisible start of a smirk at the corner of his mouth he had shanked Oxley, but she said nothing about that to him. Pulgatti sat down across from her and Kate asked, "You remember Richard Castle, the novelist?"

"Yes, he was with you when you visited the first time a couple of years ago."

She looked at Rick and nodded. Rick said, "I'm going to be writing a couple of novels about a criminal, a thug and sometimes enforcer for the mob. I need to do a bunch of research to make sure I get the details right. Kate suggested I hire you as a source of information related to the criminal underworld and how it operates. It would pay well, and I'll offer a contingency bonus of a partial royalty commission to you if the books sell well. There is one condition that is not negotiable: you must not engage in criminal activity during the time you are in my employ, beginning now, ending when the contract is over, or the contract will be void. You interested?"

"Absolutely. I just have to talk to you about how it was back in the day? I don't have to name names or testify against anybody."

"That's correct. I'm not taking depositions, I'm writing novels, and I couldn't care less who did what to whom back then. I'll record it and have it transcribed so you can read and verify I have it right. You will also read the drafts of the two books and give me feedback on the characters in the books and the story with regard to authenticity."

"How long does this last?"

"Probably a couple of years, part time."

"What do I do after the two years are over?"

"Nothing unless you insist on working. Between what I'll pay you and the proceeds of your lawsuit against the city, you won't have to work after the first couple of years. You will be able to live comfortably on the proceeds of investments if you manage the money well."

Pulgatti asked, "Where do I sign?"

"Right here," Castle replied unfolding a piece of paper and handing Pulgatti a pen.

As they were getting ready to leave, Pulgatti looked hard at Beckett and asked, "Detective, why are you doing this?"

She walked around the table, put a hand on his shoulder, bent down and whispered in his ear so only he could hear, "Thank you."

The End.

**EN: Thanks for reading this. Any and all review comments are appreciated.**

06/22/2012


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